I'm back - again!

It's me - back again. Down but not out.

Well, I didn't expect that! An all inclusive stay at the RUH, ensuite room, waited on hand and foot.
I think Chris has kept everyone in touch, summarising what's gone on. Must admit, I feel a lot better than I have done for what seems like ages.  Looking back, I think I must have been experiencing my white cells dipping from the beginning of the week.  I wasn't feeling brilliant, but thought that maybe due to the ups and downs of the chemo (having never experienced it before).  Friday, I decided it would be wise to take my temperature - shivering being more of a sign of infection than chemo.

After being told to go straight to A&E in Bath, I had to wait for Chris to get changed.  He did this when I went into labour with Vaughan - I had to wait for him to iron his trousers (???!!!!).  He in turn was surprised when I didn't pack a bag (I didn't expect to stay in!).
I went into A&E while Chris parked up and I was taken straight to a bay (didn't have to sit in the waiting room with everyone else). However, nothing was going to run smoothly for us from thereon in. Long wait, no veins for cannula, then a breach of wait times meant admission to the ward!  Poor Chris didn't leave until gone 02:00.  You've probably read his blog (makes me laugh that he was the one carrying the axe, not the nurse - I'm sure us amateur psychologists can make something of that one!).

The next few days for me were a blur of nights into days, being woken up at regular intervals for obs, antibiotics, trying to eat food (my mouth and throat by this time were really painful) and foul tasting sterile water. The PICC line came when I wasn't feeling at my best!  Sat in a wheelchair being pushed along drafty corridors in my gown (!) and my fleece!  The procedure was interesting though.  Bit nerve racking, especially after the radiographer told me it was strange doing a left arm, they do mostly right. Oh, and the ultrasound showed that my veins are really deep and small.......and there's only 1 that can be used realistically, so has to be right first time. She had to be gowned up and wear lead aprons as X-Rays are used to guide the line through the vein (very interesting to watch!!) - it was hot for her, so the aircon was put on.  I was bloody freezing, but didn't want to put her off, so didn't complain.  Anyway, she did her best and got the line in - not as long as she'd have liked, but she didn't want to change it in case the vein shut down.  As it was my only chance and I desperately needed IV abx (intravenous antibiotics) we're making do.  Hopefully this should last until the end of my chemo (they'll take bloods and put chemo in here), but if not I'll have to have it removed and a Hickman line put in my chest. So, fingers crossed it behaves eh?!

New procedure, "PICC line" and new word, "neutropenic"!  Neutrophils are a type of white blood cell and are part of the immune system. Normal ranges are between 2 - 7.5 and anything below 1.5 classes you as neutropenic.  Mine went down to 0. So with that and the fever, I was confined to my room on IV abx.  There were also certain foods I wasn't allowed, such as any salad stuff, bottled water, anything unpasteurised, basically if it wasn't cooked I couldn't have it for risk of infection.
After various consultations, bloods/urines, medications etc (and taking me off the IV abx too early), my neutrophil count rose to 1.5 and my temp finally stayed below 38. Dispersible aspirin and various mouthwashes had been a huge help with my throat and mouth and I was allowed home on oral abx (to be honest this is what I, naively, thought would happen in A&E on Thursday evening).  After waiting all day for my meds to come up, we finally left the hospital at 16:15 yesterday - hurrah!!!!!!!!!
After consideration, they've decided to keep to my original schedule of chemo on the 17th (subject to blood tests on the 15th), same dose, but they're going to give me 5 days worth of injections designed to stimulate my bone marrow into making white blood cells more quickly after the chemo. Hopefully this will help reduce my risk of another nasty infection.

What's it like to be home? Brilliant - noisy, but brilliant.  We've never been the quietest of households and after 5 days pretty much on my own, it was a bit of a shock to the system!  Give me a couple of days and I won't feel as though I've been away at all...........