Hb: 8.0
Wbc: 2.83
Npl: 2.65
Pl: 54
Very early start in order to get washed and hooked up to the morning threesome - NAC, Aciclovir and Ciclosporin. They have to be out of the way so I can be ready to go down to surgery for 11am to have my new Hickman Line fitted and in order to avoid a bleed I must also have a couple of bags of platelets.
I also had another two bags of O positive blood on top of the platelets and by the end of that lot I figure that I have the makings of a pretty good black pudding on board...
Turns out the early start was a bit optimistic as it was
about twelve thirty when a porter came for me. Getting to the Op room was a bit
more sensible this time out and I was in a wheelchair rather than the poor
fella having to slalom my bed all the way down there.
It was however my first experience of heading out and about
with the Michael Jackson style face mask on – not with his kid scaring face on
it, just the germ stoppy one. This should ring a bell with anyone who’s had to
wear one before and if you haven’t trust me on this, you do become a bit of a
freak show – and I rather think immediately considered a bit weak and feeble
and prone to some slightly pitying ‘he’ll be clocking out soon’ looks. I was
almost tempted to jump out of the wheel chair and jog alongside it doing star
jumps and high kicks to say ‘Not YET Fuckers!!!’
So there was a bit more hanging around and a consent form to
sign then it was into the Ops room for another Hickman. My only moan about this
is that you can’t see what’s going on – the area being worked on is shrouded in
blue surgical dressing stuff which goes over your head and after the first
couple of jabs of local there’s not even any sensation to guide you as to what’s
happening. The gist of it is that a hole is made on the top right of your chest
and a tube fed over the top of the pectoral muscle and clavicle then up into
the neck to either a big vein or artery.
It was only towards the end when the tube was sliding up the
jugular in my neck that I could feel anything, but very distant and if the guy
on the other end of it hadn’t told me what the feeling was, well I wouldn’t
have been any the wiser. There’s no cutting you open or anything, it’s all
positioned using real-time x-ray and you are left with a couple of knitting
needle size holes and maybe a stitch or two.
If you do have the Hickman Alien Spawn Baby fitted take care
of it especially when showering do your best to keep it dry – I was a bit blasé
about the first one and ended up making things more complicated than they
needed to be. Everyone was very polite about it falling out and no fingers were
pointed but it was in me and I was a dick for not being careful enough with it.
It’s designed to stay in place for anything up to a year, so it’s a fairly
hardy piece of kit once your body has formed scar tissue to hold it in place,- it’s
just the first few weeks where the extra care is needed.
After another bit of hanging about it was back to the wheel
chair and I pushed the porter back up to Waddington Ward at high speed– figured
it was my turn.
Mai had all the rest of the bags set up and ready to run as
soon as I got back, I think it was phosphates and ciclosporin and she very
quickly pulled the CVC Alien Spawn Baby out of my neck, cleaned me up and got the Hickman
plumbed in and loading.
Now post-transplant, since all the extra bags of stuff have
been going into me I’ve noticed that my waistband has been tightening – and it
turns out that I have water retention. At one point my stomach was a full-on
water gut blocking my feet from view – GROSS so I was given a ‘water pill’ via
the Hickman and told to prepare myself. Within 15 minutes I could feel my
kidneys start to cycle up like turbos and shortly after that the pattern for
the next two hours was set. Two litres sent off for recycling in 105 minutes
not too shabby and I felt a hell of a lot better for it – however I’m not
completely deflated and I rather suspect something like this may be needed every
couple of days.
Another subtle change that I’ve just picked up on is that my
face is filling out must be from the
steroids - I used to have fairly sharply defined cheek bones and I’m now seeing
my face starting to round out. It’s OK at the moment but if it continues there’s
a distinct chance that I’m going to turn into 'What's the scores George Dawes' when my barnet goes.
So T +1 done and dusted and I actually feel pretty great and
healthy now the fug of the chemo is clearing from my head, however I’m keenly
aware that none of it is down to self-propulsion yet and that I’m dependant on the
baggies for my day to day well-being.
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