Chemo...Round 3

16th May, 2012

 

Today started with the usual anxiety. It's always difficult, no matter how much love & support Chris receives, no one can take away the anxiety that builds behind these days. The effects from the chemo always lingers, so this doesn’t help to reduce that anxiety.  By the end of each fortnight, Chris only just starts to feel semi normal again & then, back for more she goes.

Anyway, we soldiered on, we arrived at the clinic at 9.30am & Chris was seen by a different nurse who abruptly stated to Susie that it’s only one visitor at a time. Gah drainer, I mean, I understand it's not a spectators sport but Susie, Magda & I; all want to be in with Chris to support her.

So, Susie & I were banished to the waiting room. Susie told me that prior to being sent out of the ward the nurse was having issues accessing Chris’s PICC line. This meant that taking bloods & inserting the chemo through the PICC line was not going to be an option, due to there being another clot. Arghh, this was another setback, I mean, on top of the usual anxiety just to receive the chemo, there was now another issue that needed to be addressed. So, the way it ended up was that Chris had to have her bloods drawn first, wait for the results, then have the chemo administered through a catheter which was inserted into a vein in her hand.

So the next thing I know, Chris walked out to the waiting room, dragging her IV pole, with a catheter sticking out of her right hand, attached to a line of saline solution (flush), that also had another line attached, for the point of another outlet to run the chemo through.

We sat in the waiting room, while the hours rolled by. We waited for the blood results & waited for some answers as to why Chris’s PICC line appears to constantly have issues. Yep, it was like we were in the hospital time warp again.

As we sat in the waiting room, I noticed that the baskets (knitted goods donated by volunteers) were full of gorgeous mini prayer bears & there was a particularly perfect one, completely rainbow knitted!

So, around 2.00pm they called Chris back in. Her blood results were back & her chemo was made up, ready to go. They also advised that a senior consultant would be around later in the day to have a look at Chris’s PICC line to try to unblock it.

5 hours after arriving at the cancer clinic, it was finally time for treatment. I sat with Chris as she received the Adriamycin (aka the red devil). By that stage, Chris was anxious & irritable (I totally didn’t blame her). As the Adriamycin was pushed through by the nurse, it was as though we were both holding our breath. This was mainly because the chemo was being administered through the catheter in the vein in her hand. I asked Chris if it was hurting & thank goodness she said no (although, I sometimes wonder how much she holds back to not worry us). As the nurse continued the treatment, Chris mentioned that her arm (which was receiving the treatment had gone stone cold. Fortunately, the nurse wrapped a heated towel over Chris’s arm whilst she continued to receive her treatment.

At around 4.00pm, the senior consultant came over to Chris. She told us that she was going to insert a liquid into Chris’s PICC line to unblock the clot. Chris asked what the liquid was & she called it “Draino” (obviously not the real name but it supposedly has the same effect). So, there was Chris, having Chemo pushed through one arm & ‘Draino’ pushed through the other.

It was hard, as by that time, everyone was exhausted. Chris had been up since 5am & I could see the fatigue in her eyes. Anyway, all we could do was be happy that there was a solution to unblocking the PICC line. Basically the ‘Draino’ sat in Chris’s line for an hour & a ½ & then the nurse withdrew the solution, prior to running saline solution through, then locking it off with Heparin. We were told that instead of 10ml of Heparin, they will now lock off the line with 20ml of Heparin, hopefully, this will assist in reducing future clotting (along with the Clexane that Chris’ continues to inject into her stomach twice a day).

Finally, we were done. Chris & I shuffled out of hospital & made our way home.

We just snuggled up together, with a little couch time & some good TV to get lost in.

Below is a picture of the bear (with a sad face), we had taken to strolling around the hospital to pass time. 

And some clever artwork in Westmead hospital we noticed on our stroll.