Tuesday, 5 February 2013
On Wednesday 30th January I went for my
pre-chemo consultation at Guys. Husband and I had already had our
enormous 'The week leading up to chemo' argument on the Monday so we
were getting on fine by Wednesday. The nurse decided to use a
different vein for my bloods which has bruised quite badly and
annoyed me a bit - was he just showing off?
The consultation went quite well. I mentioned some chest pain I'd been having and was sent up for an ECG. If I'd known this was going to happen I wouldn't have worn a dress! Felt quite silly in my tights and bra with sticky pads and wires all over my upper body. Turns out I have a first degree heart block. This is much less impressive than it sounds. The Doctor told us that extremely fit people like marathon runners can develop this. We assured him that this was NOT what would have happened in my case!
We went for lunch at Borough Market and booked tickets to see AnDa Union play on the 9th at the South Bank which I'm very excited about. Thursday was tiring, Husband had a full day in the office and the shopping had to be done. The girls were great and spent the afternoon in the garden with Granny pruning and making a small bonfire to eat supper around.
On Friday morning we had to stop off at school to see daughter 2's mid-term Assembly on recycling. She had lots of speaking parts and did really well. Then it was off up to Guy's on the train. My chemo went smoothly, Lovely friend came and kept me company. Then we took the train home and I did the post-chemo-race which involves getting fed and changed and ready for bed before feeling too rubbish. My Curly friend and her Man came to stay. He to accompany my Husband to a gig and she to look after me. We had a quiet evening looking through the old Footsbarn photos.
On Saturday morning I felt fine. The steroids were still strong and the pain hadn't started yet so we took advantage of the girls being at Granny's and piled into the car for a day trip to Hastings. I wasn't able to completely join in but managed a very respectable afternoon of pottering and eating. By the time we got home in the late afternoon I was whacked and slept really well.
On Sunday the slightly sore throat and little cough I'd been trying to ignore had got a bit worse. I spent most of the day in or around my bed. Then on Monday (yesterday) I went to the GP. I was diagnosed with a mild chest and throat infection. Normally nothing to worry about but in my current state a potential problem. I also had my bloods taken to see if I had any immune system to fight infection and a seven day course of antibiotics prescribed.
By 7.30pm last night my temperature had gone over 38degrees (If this happens at any point during chemo you have to rush to the nearest hospital). Mother-in-law came to watch the kids and my Acute Oncology Consultant phoned ahead from Guys. I arrived to a packed A&E but luckily they were expecting me.
No one at our local hospital A&E is trained to use my portacath so they needed to insert a cannula in order to take my bloods (full blood count for immune system and culture to see if I had any infection in the blood) and give me IV antibiotics. Unfortunately Wednesday's show off nurse had blown one vein and the GP had bruised another earlier in the day. The A&E nurse finally decided on the edge of my wrist. The experience was so traumatic that I'm afraid I went into shock. My blood pressure dropped to Hypotension 80/50. I was very nearly sick, lost the feeling in my limbs and felt absolutely awful.
Once I finally came to, I was given two massive syringes of antibiotics and two pints of plasma to top up my blood. The culture had come back showing signs of infection but my white blood cells were not neutropenic. At 3am the Doctor decided I was safer at home than in the hospital and I've been dozing off and on in bed ever since. I feel MUCH better today, the fever has gone and my throat is less sore. Hopefully in a week or so the body pain will subside again and I can enjoy a window of normality before my LAST session at the end of this month.
The consultation went quite well. I mentioned some chest pain I'd been having and was sent up for an ECG. If I'd known this was going to happen I wouldn't have worn a dress! Felt quite silly in my tights and bra with sticky pads and wires all over my upper body. Turns out I have a first degree heart block. This is much less impressive than it sounds. The Doctor told us that extremely fit people like marathon runners can develop this. We assured him that this was NOT what would have happened in my case!
We went for lunch at Borough Market and booked tickets to see AnDa Union play on the 9th at the South Bank which I'm very excited about. Thursday was tiring, Husband had a full day in the office and the shopping had to be done. The girls were great and spent the afternoon in the garden with Granny pruning and making a small bonfire to eat supper around.
On Friday morning we had to stop off at school to see daughter 2's mid-term Assembly on recycling. She had lots of speaking parts and did really well. Then it was off up to Guy's on the train. My chemo went smoothly, Lovely friend came and kept me company. Then we took the train home and I did the post-chemo-race which involves getting fed and changed and ready for bed before feeling too rubbish. My Curly friend and her Man came to stay. He to accompany my Husband to a gig and she to look after me. We had a quiet evening looking through the old Footsbarn photos.
On Saturday morning I felt fine. The steroids were still strong and the pain hadn't started yet so we took advantage of the girls being at Granny's and piled into the car for a day trip to Hastings. I wasn't able to completely join in but managed a very respectable afternoon of pottering and eating. By the time we got home in the late afternoon I was whacked and slept really well.
On Sunday the slightly sore throat and little cough I'd been trying to ignore had got a bit worse. I spent most of the day in or around my bed. Then on Monday (yesterday) I went to the GP. I was diagnosed with a mild chest and throat infection. Normally nothing to worry about but in my current state a potential problem. I also had my bloods taken to see if I had any immune system to fight infection and a seven day course of antibiotics prescribed.
By 7.30pm last night my temperature had gone over 38degrees (If this happens at any point during chemo you have to rush to the nearest hospital). Mother-in-law came to watch the kids and my Acute Oncology Consultant phoned ahead from Guys. I arrived to a packed A&E but luckily they were expecting me.
No one at our local hospital A&E is trained to use my portacath so they needed to insert a cannula in order to take my bloods (full blood count for immune system and culture to see if I had any infection in the blood) and give me IV antibiotics. Unfortunately Wednesday's show off nurse had blown one vein and the GP had bruised another earlier in the day. The A&E nurse finally decided on the edge of my wrist. The experience was so traumatic that I'm afraid I went into shock. My blood pressure dropped to Hypotension 80/50. I was very nearly sick, lost the feeling in my limbs and felt absolutely awful.
Once I finally came to, I was given two massive syringes of antibiotics and two pints of plasma to top up my blood. The culture had come back showing signs of infection but my white blood cells were not neutropenic. At 3am the Doctor decided I was safer at home than in the hospital and I've been dozing off and on in bed ever since. I feel MUCH better today, the fever has gone and my throat is less sore. Hopefully in a week or so the body pain will subside again and I can enjoy a window of normality before my LAST session at the end of this month.
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