Category: PICC line

In a Similar Vein

Apologies for big gap in posts. My first chemo session knocked me for 6. You know you’re in for a rough ride when you can’t even keep your anti-sickness tablets down! Still I was only (and very violently) sick on the evening of my chemo session and fine the next day. Nausea persisted for about a week and then my wonderful body innards got a grip on everything and started getting me back to what passes for normality. I think I’d like to nominate my innards for some sort of humanitarian aid award.

Obviously the PICC Line has been inserted. Was a bit of a woose and didn’t look at the actual thing going in. I pretended to be very interested in the machine they had me hooked up to. They showed me a sample of the line and it is sooooo tiny in diameter and it’s purple which is nice.
Here is a picture of it attached to me – I’m thinking of sending the pic to Steven Moffatt, the head writer at Doctor Who and suggesting that he write about a Worthing Craft Artist who is slowly morphing into a Cyber woman all funded by the NHS.

Gruesome isn’t it? They said I would soon get used to it. I doubted that for the first 10 days as it was a bit sore but it doesn’t cause me any problems now and when I’m wearing long sleeves I totally forget about it. This is the cover I made for it.

Now the next hurdle to overcome is the loss of my hair – gulp! It has started to come out. I noticed this yesterday and in a panic called the wig shop to see when my wig will be ready as I was convinced I would be bald by tea time. ‘Hedwig’ should be with me or on me by the end of the week and I still have loads of hair on my head to play with as I write this. One unexpected pleasure is that after years of brushing cat hair off my clothes I am finally getting my own back on them and they are now walking around with my hair all over them. Revenge is mine, Kitties!!!

This is a pic of Fluffy one of the full time resident pussycats at PAWS animal sanctuary. My friend Susan and volunteer there brought me a lovely big grey mouse shaped cat bed. She put it down for a second to do something and in a flash young Fluffy had jumped in and claimed squatter’s rights. I didn’t have the heart to turf her out, how could I when she puts on a cute expression like this.

Susan was so sweet and found a replacement bed for me, this lovely wicker bed. As you can see I did get possession of it and now Lily is happily installed in and on it. Sorry about pic quality – taken on my mobile phone.

Nest chemo session is next week on 22nd. So I will apply what I have learned. Take sickness tabs before I need them, have loads of ginger biccies and beer on hand and drinks loads of water – easy peasy!!

Slàinte Mhath xxx

April 15, 2015
PICC Me!

So I turned up at the hospital this afternoon expecting to have the PICC line inserted, but it turns out it was just the Meet and Greet session. I chatted to a lovely chemo nurse who even made me a cup of coffee. I’ve decided that free coffee and biccies are very important elements of chemotherapy treatment. She was very impressed to hear about my bc Facebook group and I was very aware of trying not to say “Yes, I know about that. We’ve discussed that in our group” when she was talking about side effects, temperature taking etc. One thing, I will have to do is inject myself with a certain drug. I can scarcely watch a nurse inject me, let alone do it myself. Should make a fun video though!
She took me to the actual chemo ward where I’ll get the treatment. Eight bays in all with nice comfy chairs and more monitoring equipment than N.A.S.A. There were about 3 people there undergoing chemo. Nice and bright and airy, no trace of ‘let’s hold hands and contact the living’.

I’ve got my wig voucher now, so I’ll be off to have a hairy time of it at the studio. Soooo tempted to become a redhead. I was also given a bottle of Scrub wash to slather all over myself pre PICC insertion and permission to drink red wine during the 18 weeks of chemotherapy. Am happy with that – didn’t want to push my luck with single malt whiskey.

I’ve also agreed to take part in a clinical trial run by the University of Dundee. You get a gadget on which you get to press a load of buttons about symptoms etc. One thing it does – if you are not feeling too good you can answer a set of questions and if they are answered in a certain way it will send a red alert to the chemo nurses who will call you straight away. Nifty.
No reason for picture below, I just like looking at it

Slàinte Mhath xxx

March 25, 2015
Small Wins

When I joined my FB breast cancer group there were 12 of us and now in a few short weeks we are up to 25. I swear I sometimes think bc is becoming like an epidemic.

Echocardiogram last week. Another machine they wouldn’t let me play with. I was given the results in a sealed envelope for the hospital. I promptly opened it when I got home, scanned it and resealed it. I think it was OK, kept seeing loads of “normals” and all my figures seemed to fall within the correct parameters. Something called a PICC line gets inserted in my vein next week, the precursor to the chemo treatment. So I am warning you that there will probably be a lot of in depth posts on the technique of how to throw up and miss your shoes. Also watch out for the Spring Special coming soon – “100 creative things to do with the hairy clumps you find on your pillow every morning”

Now isn’t this a cute little sewing machine?

She’s a Frister+Rossmann Cub 3. Her original guarantee is dated June 1971. My friend has had her in his spare room for yonks and decided to rehome her with me a couple of weeks ago. I got her home, threaded her up and after the second press on the pedal she whirred into life – a quick adjustment on the tension and she is well nigh perfect. I’ve named her Maddy after Maddy Prior from Steeleye Span because she was big in the 70s too!
More socks have been knitted! You know that saying “Cancer Sucks”? I think in my case I might have misread it as “Cancer Socks”

Slàinte Mhath xxx

March 23, 2015
New Friends & Nicknames

My first new friend is named Fezzy and comes round to visit twice a day. Sadly not for my scintillating wit and conversation but rather for the handfuls of wild bird seed I throw out for him. Yes, Fezzy is a boy Pheasant and a very handsome one at that. Even the cats are impressed by his good looks. Here’s a short video of him strutting his stuff outside my back door

Fezzy the Pheasant

Isn’t he adorable? I was watching how the light was bouncing off his feathers which made them go from midnight blue to purple to russet. Nothing to beat Mother Nature’s palette. As with most male pheasants he is particularly vocal especially when he sees that I haven’t put down any seed in a while. I’m half expecting him to come through the cat flap to remind me.

I have decided that if I lose my hair through chemo I will most certainly wear a wig with a little bit of scarf tying on the side. My wig will be named and after a deliberation lasting 2 seconds I settled on the name ‘Hedwig’. I just have one teeny reservation which is that she won’t live up to her onscreen namesake and fly off!

I know the internet comes in for a battering every so often for the violence and taunts and trolls but there is a lot of good going on as well. I’ve joined a Facebook group for ladies who are about to undergo chemo for the first time this month. There are 18 of us so far from all over the UK and it really is one of the most supportive groups ever. We swap info on our ops/medication/effects of chemo/nerves at the first one/cyber hand holding and of course jokes. Every single lady on it is a superstar and I count myself so fortunate to have been invited to join it. I think we are going to be cyber friends for a very long time and there will definitely be a few fact to face meetings in the future.

One of the lovely ladies gave me an idea when she posted a picture of a PICC Line cover that you could buy. It’s basically an armband that covers the bits of line that stand proud of your arm. So I got out my embroidery machine and a piece of fleece and came up with this!

It’s not sewn at the seams yet as I need to fit it once the line is inserted (next week – gulp!), but I’m pretty pleased as to how the design turned out. In fact I might just celebrate with a small Irish whiskey this evening (yes my whiskey taste buds have come back post op!).

Slàinte Mhath xxx

March 17, 2015