Crack on!

Welcome to the next installment of "What can we throw at Tracey now?"!

Somebody somewhere is thinking "right, she's getting a bit stronger now, what else can we give her to knock her back a bit?".

Friday was District Nurse day.  It was nice to see a familiar face.  I showed Yvonne the bruises I'd been inflicting upon myself with the Clexane injection and she wondered how I'd been doing it.  Turns out I hadn't been finishing it off properly! Once you've injected all the drug, you continue pushing down, which releases a tube.  This shoots out and retracts the needle, so you don't have to pull it out.  This is easier said than done.  It takes an effort to push it so the tube clicks out.  So (picture this - well maybe not), each time I'm sitting on the bed, jabbing myself with this needle, pushing the drug through and then trying to push down further on the plunger, without pushing the needle further into my tummy.  Yes, it is a sight!  Anyway, practice makes perfect and I have plenty of opportunity for that. 
Whilst changing the statlock, it was also noticed that the entry site for the line looks red again (oh great, more antibiotics?).  Yvonne wanted me to ring the Chemo Suite just to ask their advice, which I duly did.  I spoke to Karen, who said she'd need to see it to make any judgement.  However, as I wasn't too concerned and the redness hadn't (and still hasn't) spread, wasn't hot, sore or hard, she was happy for me to keep an eye on it.  Came off the phone thinking, well, that's ok, with any luck I won't have to call the Out of Hours medical team........................how wrong was I (and it's not what you think)????????

Friday evening, Chris got fish and chips for us all, to give Mum a night off!  I didn't know if I'd eat it all, but was going to give it a good go!  Just after I'd started tucking in (and was really enjoying it), I was chewing away and felt a hard lump in my mouth.  It definitely wasn't fish or chip..............it was my tooth!  I'd cracked off a bit of tooth at the back of my mouth.  It wasn't a huge chunk, but it left a sharp jagged edge on the tooth which my tongue found easy to rub against.  Oh bloody brilliant!!  I was really enjoying my fish and chips up until that point. 
Right.  What to do now?  After various discussions, I decided to ring the ward and ask their advice.  The junior sister I spoke to told me that it was not a good time for me, as I'm going through my neutropenic phase (cracking your tooth isn't a good time for anyone at any stage!).  She said I could ring the emergency dental team and see what they say, but I'm not allowed to have any invasive procedures or any injections and that I'd need to have bloods taken before anything was done anyway, to check my neutrophil count.  It's a catch 22 situation really.  I may get an infection in the tooth in it's present state, or I may get an infection if I have anything done about it. Mmmmmm........Anyway, I rang the Out of Hours number and eventually talked to a triage dental nurse, who booked me an appointment to see the emergency dentist the next day.

So, that's where Mum and I spent part of the afternoon on Saturday, whilst the rest of the family went to North Petherton to visit family and watch the carnival (I'm sure you have more of that to come from an excitable Mr Tins on his blog!).  The dentist was a really nice understanding Scottish lady.  She didn't know her way around the treatment room and the dental nurse kept telling her what the other dentists do and how unusual she was as the others didn't do that!  Not a match made in heaven, but they did what they could for me.  This included filing the tooth down a bit and sticking a filling in. The filling was stuck in, not drilled in and may not last long.  The good news though, is that the original filling in the tooth is still intact, so there's no emergency in getting it filled properly.  That said, she did say to get it sorted as soon as I can.  This looks likely to be in my 3rd week, if my neutrophil count is ok and I can get an appointment with my own dentist!

Today was a quiet day for everyone except Chris and Mum.  They didn't get in until 01:00 and then Chris had to take Vaughan and a friend over to Swindon for 10:00 for a rugby match (they lost 43 - 24!).  The rest of us slobbed around and ate bacon butties courtesy of Mum.  There was just time for her to rustle up a choc krispies thing for the kids, check my dressing and do a Sainsbury's shop for me, before heading off home (hopefully in time for the last Downton Abbey)!
Chris is busy in the kitchen serving up a roast chicken dinner, so I think it's time I stopped now and gave it the time and effort it deserves!
x