Had weekly blood check today, and all seems to be in order. They phone me if there is anything I need to change around my drugs regime, and they didn't phone me today, so either it is so bad they are scared to tell me, or all is in order. Forgive me if I assume the latter option!
I also just found out that I'm not supposed to have been taking the metoclopramide anti-emetic as a regular dose, but only as required (like the Ondansetron). Five weeks into a six week program, it's a bit late to find that out - still, no wonder I haven't had any real nausea symptoms!
Paid a visit to a great company in Halifax the other day - Andy Thornton's are an architectural salvage company who do bar and hotel fittings and also sell to the public. People might know bars such as Via Fossa in the Gay Village in Manchester or Cafe En Seine in Dublin which were done by them. Here's a couple of things I want to buy but Vanda won't let me ...
Anyway, I digress - this blog is supposed to be about cancer after all ...
Sorry, the main reason for that diversion was that I had my camera out to take a pic of my PICC line (for Kaz's benefit) and I spotted those pics too! So here is the PICC line:
The blue tube goes into the crook of my elbow, then is attached to my arm in two places with clips attached to sticky pads (replaced with nice clean ones today) to stop it getting tugged. The thin blue tube then turns into a wider, clear tube which is folded round just for ease of "storage" when its not in use. The end of the tube is the white/red/blue/white nozzle which is resting on a gauze pad.The whole lot is then covered in a thin clear dressing (which gets changed every time they need access to the nozzle). All the chemo goes into the nozzle and all my blood tests come out of it, so there is no need for any other injections which is nice. I wear a section of tubigrip over the whole thing as you can see below (except when I'm on the IV in hospital), so I don't even notice it - there's no pain or discomfort of any kind, which I have found quite surprising. The worst thing has been having the clear sticky covering taken off and having the hairs ripped out of my arm, but there aren't any hairs left around that area now, so even that isn't uncomfortable any more.
I do love the message on the sticky pads - "remove with alcohol" - the sort of message you'd expect to see on a pair of saucy underwear! :)
Anyway, enough for now. Hope you enjoyed the pictures!
C x
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1 comment:
Many thanks Colin! Interesting to see what a PICC line is (in case any of your other readers need to have one in future). I have a friend who has survived breast cancer so have recently been reading breast cancer blogs - the most interesting one had loads and loads of pictures, but her PICC line came out of her neck!
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