The Drug Pushers

Meet Rachel and Rosie my drug pushers chemotherapy nurses.  

I had to be there at 9am and Alison said she'd take me and stay with me as she doesn't have to leave for work until 2.45pm on Thursdays.  When we arrived, Rosie asked if Alison was my sister and when I said no, she was surprised as she thought we looked alike.

We were escorted to my room as the first thing I had to undergo was the insertion of the picc line which is used to administer the drugs and that would remain in place for the duration of my treatment, covered in a bandage.  They had to use an ultrasound machine to locate my 'Mickey' - the term they use for the relevant vein as apparently there are three circles which look like Mickey Mouse's face and ears.

They asked Alison to leave the room for about an hour and said there was a Macmillan coffee morning taking place in the cafe.  Once Mickey was located, they had to gown up to carry out the procedure under local anaesthetic, and they're really lovely ladies, so asked if I could take their photo for Blip.

Unfortunately, after two attempts they had to stop as my veins were rejecting the line so said that they would use a cannula today, and then arrange for me to have a port fitted under general anaesthetic before my next cycle.

Rosie went to talk to Mr Zammitt (my surgeon) to see if it was ok to put the cannula in my left hand because they weren't happy to use my right arm after their two attempts as they were concerned about leakage.  But because of my last operation to remove the lymph nodes from my left arm they wanted him to give the go ahead, which he did. He also said he'd come and see me which was nice.

While I was waiting, I had a head massage from the resident masseuse which was nice - I have a choice of either a head or foot massage while I'm there, and an added bonus is that she's French so I get to practice my French as the same time.

Anyway, I got connected up to the machine and had a saline drip containing steroids and anti-sickness drugs, and Rosie had fed four very large syringes of drugs which took about half an hour.  

It all went well and once it was finished I had a gourmet lunch before I went home.  Tomorrow I have to go back to have an injection in my stomach that helps boost my white blood cells and I have three days of steroids & anti sickness drugs to take.  

I feel fine at the moment and we've taken the boys for a walk, so I guess it's just a waiting game to see how I get on.

I've added a few other pics to my extras of me undergoing the treatment if you really want to look ;-)