PICC up your troubles.....and smile!

We trotted off to the chemo suite yesterday (Wednesday), in the hope that they would be able to get blood out of this particular stone.  Bea injected the Urokinase and Chris and I trooped off to the Friends coffee shop for a butty and a drink.  Went commando again (at this rate I'll be going as Mrs 1TT soon too - mmmm, maybe not!).
At 15:00 we went back to the chemo suite.  Karen, the sister, took over.  The line was flushed I don't know how many times and I don't know how many syringes were used to try and get blood.  Karen tried her hardest to draw it out but it didn't want to come. Until, suddenly, slowly, it appeared - well sort of.  We were all congratulating her on her efforts, when it stopped.  It was coming out soooooo slowly, it was clotting in the vial as soon as it reached it. No good for samples.  A lady in the next chair told me that she'd moaned at the 3 attempts made to get blood from her arm, that I made her feel very humble and I was very brave. It was kind of her, but bravery doesn't come into it - I'm very passive and just let them get on with it.
Then the dressing was taken off to look at the arm.  There was a swelling near the site and my hand was a bit swollen, so the Registrar came to have a look.  It was finally decided that I should have a Doppler scan to see if there were any clots in the arm.  The form was duly faxed off and we waited to see what time my appointment would be.
In the meantime, my hand was put in a bowl of warm water to fatten the veins up a bit before the nurse attempted to go in on the outside back of my wrist. Butterfly needle, only slight sting and she got in first time!  3 vials were slowly filled, so not an entirely wasted visit.

There were also calls to the radiologist who put the line in originally.  She reluctantly agreed to have a look and maybe put some dye in to see if there was any blockage.  She suggested Karen try and pull the line out slightly and then try again, in case it was sitting against the vein wall.  This meant taking the statlock dressing off!  Ouch!!  A new statlock was put back on, but, as the line had been moved slightly it managed to miss the sore bits.  Just as well as they're looking really raw. Guess what?  No luck, no blood.
Unfortunately the Radiologist couldn't see me until the next day and as we hadn't heard from vascular studies, it was decided to let us go home and to come back the next day at 11:00.  This was about 16:45 and we'd arrived at 14:00.  There's a lot of hanging around in hospitals!

So, today (Thursday), we arrived at 11:00.  Fiona (assistant practitioner) was dealing with it today in Karen's absence.  She rang vascular studies to be told the only appointment they could give me was tomorrow at 10:00.  This had a knock on effect on the PICC line tests.  The Registrar didn't want to have the line disturbed without finding out if the arm had a clot or not.  She also rang vascular studies, but was told it was only a trainee on today - she had a long list and wasn't very confident.  Various phone calls were made to the radiologist again, who was undertaking a tricky procedure and would get back to Fiona.  So we waited and we waited and we waited.  Reminder calls were made, but nothing.  In the end, around 12:30, Fiona said to go home - it didn't seem likely that they would agree to seeing me without the Doppler scan being done first anyway.  That was that.  Sod it!  Home, pick up boys and then out for lunch!!

We have to go back tomorrow for a scan at 10:00 and then back to the chemo suite.  Then, depending on the results of the scan, we'll go to see the radiologist and have some dye injected into the line before they decide if I can have chemo tomorrow as scheduled.  If not, then it may have to be delayed until next week (hopefully Monday). It seems this next round of chemo (Docetaxel) takes a little longer for the first treatment - we have to wait an hour after.  If, tomorrow, the line is completely knacked then I may have to have it taken out and a Hickman line put in, but that has to be inserted in theatre and I have to wait for a slot. If this happens my chemo will be late, which means that Christmas may not be quite as lovely a time as I was hoping for.

Got it?????  No, I'm not sure I have either.  It seems that the Registrar and the Radiologist aren't that bothered, but the chemo sister is.  Karen would rather have a better idea of what's going on, rather than putting chemo in a line that might not be performing well.  It seems the only problem is not getting blood out of it.  Anything that's injected into it seems to go in ok, so I can see why they're thinking of leaving it alone.  On the other hand, the blood was very thick and gloopy yesterday, so what's going on there?  There's also the faff of not getting any decent veins for bloods - that seems a bit hit and miss and I usually end up looking like a pin cushion (a cushion that's lost its cush as Vaughan says!). AND, there's still 3 more treatments to go!!  Feel a bit dejected really and also not sure what's going to happen tomorrow.  Never thought I'd hear myself say it, but I WANT chemo tomorrow.  I don't want to put it off.

Poor Mum's on standby.  Although, she may come up tomorrow evening anyway - chemo or not.  She's made lasagnes, cottage pies etc and they can't go to waste now, can they?!

On a lighter note - I've ordered another bra!  This one's called Rita!!!!  Sorry Auntie Ritas (no, not poor grammar - there are 2 of them), it's not sexy and sophisticated, but it looks better than the 1950's effort in M&S.  Having said that, if the 1950's one made me look like Christina Hendricks (Joan) in Mad Men, then it may be worth a try!  No..........I think you're right...........I've got no chance, I'd better stick with Frances, Nora and hopefully Rita!