Yesterday turned out to be a nightmare day (nearly 11 hours!) getting chemo, thanks to a very naughty port-a-cath! In theory the nurse just puts a needle into the port, straight into the vein for th blood test, and the needle is then used for chemo too. This proved impossible - the needle kept just hitting metal, despite the best efforts of 3 nurses. I was sent down to x-ray, which they thought showed the port was a bit twisted but not completely flipped over so in theory could still be accessed. But no - same result again. So I was now sent to Concord hospital, where I had the port originally put in, to be fixed up.
At Concord further xray showed that the port had flipped over, hence why they couldn't get the needle in. Solution was a little operation under local anaesthetic to slice open and get at the pot, flip it back over to the correct position, tie it down so it shouldn't happen again and then sew it back up again. Then test by putting a needle in for chemo. That all done, it was back to RPA for 3.5 hours of chemo! What a day, could have done without it...
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Ups & Downs - Week in Victoria, Week in Hospital
I have been in some pain recently hence haven't updated the blog for awhile, so I'll now try to recap the last month or so.
The week after my Biggles experience I was still feeling pretty good and we went to Victoria for a week (with mum and dad and hubby). The great ocean road was beautiful and a helicopter ride over the 12 apostles with mum was awesome! It was obviously a week of cool flying experiences. Saw lots of koalas in the trees too, which made up for the terrible weather that day. Then spent some lovely sightseeing time in Melbourne, includng a visit to the Block (a renovation TV show, won't mean anything to the English audience!) Our 4th wedding anniversary was spent in a nice hotel in Melbourne, with a lovely dinner at the Guy Grossi restaurant in the hotel. We then went to the Mornington Peninsula to see cousin Andrew & Kylie and do some more sightseeing down there - beautiful area I have to say. Loved the Peninsula hot springs but very stupidly put the new pain-killing patch on before going into water for 3 hours, so it (unsurprisingly in hindsight) fell off with no spare available. Made for a very painful flight home!
A few days after returning from Victoria, I had a lovely birthday party at a pub in Newtown. There were abour 40 people and I tried to talk to everyone at least for a little while. I lasted 2 hours before I had to go home for a lie-down - a pretty good effort I thought, but also quite sad when I reflect on how I used to socialise (so easily for many more hours, drink in hand!) Oh well, this is the new me now I suppose, sober and tired...
After the birthday party things went downhill quite quickly. We tried to go away for the weekend to a beach house on the central coast to see mum and dad Irwin, but had to come home due to the level of pain I was in. Then on the monday, still in pain, it was back to the RPA. I was expecting to be in for less time than previously, but it ended up being over a week. Activities included a blood transfusion (when my red blood cells were too low), MRI scan on my spine (horrible, so claustrophobic and loud, I still feel ill thinking about it), healing radiation on my lower back and so much morphine I got a bruise around the butterfly and had to ask for injections instead. Fun! Not sure how much of my issues are due to constipation - it is underrated apparently, morphine slows your bowels down, but if you aren't going regularly then pressure causes pain and oral morphine doesn't work (but still slows your system). So bowel movement is key! Anyway, eventually I was discharged with a significant increase in pain killers, mainly morphine tablets, and a community nurse set up for a visit every fortnight.
The firt first few weeks out of hospital were fine, though I definitely feel much weaker and sicker than I have before, which is quite downheartening. Then in the last week or so the pain has come back, which was pretty depressing. Not sure how much is constipation related, so I've been taking lots of bowel drugs to get/keep things moving. Saw doctors yesterday to get stronger painkillers. Finally starting to feel a bit better, though a little dopey from the even stronger drugs - excuse any spelling or grammar errors in the blog!
The week after my Biggles experience I was still feeling pretty good and we went to Victoria for a week (with mum and dad and hubby). The great ocean road was beautiful and a helicopter ride over the 12 apostles with mum was awesome! It was obviously a week of cool flying experiences. Saw lots of koalas in the trees too, which made up for the terrible weather that day. Then spent some lovely sightseeing time in Melbourne, includng a visit to the Block (a renovation TV show, won't mean anything to the English audience!) Our 4th wedding anniversary was spent in a nice hotel in Melbourne, with a lovely dinner at the Guy Grossi restaurant in the hotel. We then went to the Mornington Peninsula to see cousin Andrew & Kylie and do some more sightseeing down there - beautiful area I have to say. Loved the Peninsula hot springs but very stupidly put the new pain-killing patch on before going into water for 3 hours, so it (unsurprisingly in hindsight) fell off with no spare available. Made for a very painful flight home!
A few days after returning from Victoria, I had a lovely birthday party at a pub in Newtown. There were abour 40 people and I tried to talk to everyone at least for a little while. I lasted 2 hours before I had to go home for a lie-down - a pretty good effort I thought, but also quite sad when I reflect on how I used to socialise (so easily for many more hours, drink in hand!) Oh well, this is the new me now I suppose, sober and tired...
After the birthday party things went downhill quite quickly. We tried to go away for the weekend to a beach house on the central coast to see mum and dad Irwin, but had to come home due to the level of pain I was in. Then on the monday, still in pain, it was back to the RPA. I was expecting to be in for less time than previously, but it ended up being over a week. Activities included a blood transfusion (when my red blood cells were too low), MRI scan on my spine (horrible, so claustrophobic and loud, I still feel ill thinking about it), healing radiation on my lower back and so much morphine I got a bruise around the butterfly and had to ask for injections instead. Fun! Not sure how much of my issues are due to constipation - it is underrated apparently, morphine slows your bowels down, but if you aren't going regularly then pressure causes pain and oral morphine doesn't work (but still slows your system). So bowel movement is key! Anyway, eventually I was discharged with a significant increase in pain killers, mainly morphine tablets, and a community nurse set up for a visit every fortnight.
The firt first few weeks out of hospital were fine, though I definitely feel much weaker and sicker than I have before, which is quite downheartening. Then in the last week or so the pain has come back, which was pretty depressing. Not sure how much is constipation related, so I've been taking lots of bowel drugs to get/keep things moving. Saw doctors yesterday to get stronger painkillers. Finally starting to feel a bit better, though a little dopey from the even stronger drugs - excuse any spelling or grammar errors in the blog!
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