day four: ouch

typing left-handed, one finger. may need to be very brief. better word: concise. already into my normal verbosity :-)

i prefer to have the cannula in my left hand or arm. so i can type with my right. nurse inserts the cannula on the left. starts the drip pump. a very minor dull ache grows worse. i'm thinking of fainting, deb worries, i call the nurse.

it's come out, she says. blowing up a bulge under the skin. ouch!

pump off. cannula out. change hands. i barely feel it go in. connected. pump on. feels fine. left hand wrapped in bandage, no remnant pain at all. pumping in on the right, no trouble at all. except that i am now typing, very slowly, left handed.

last night i'm being disconnected. nurse says, it's out... don't look... there's blood. i don't look but it doesn't worry me at all. it's not the blood -- not just the blood. it's the thought of having something stuck into my vein.

a port is suggested, a vein connector inserted under the skin. one day procedure then simple click in for each drip. deb will ask if a port is "permanent". i actually prefer the thought of the daily cannula. i don't like it going in, i'm not comfortable (in my mind) while it's in. but i'm glad when it comes out -- and thoroughly enjoy going home with no attachments.

going back even further: when i was much younger, mid twenties, i donated blood. never enjoyed it, never looked. not even the time when doctors and nurses took turns to look at my bag of blood, to shake it, to call the next person to have a look...

perhaps my blood was green? my best guess is that it was flowing very, very slowly.

by the fifth and sixth donated pint i was feeling faint after the donation. not from loss of blood but from the not liking of a needle in the vein. after each of those donations i really needed the biscuits and drink -- and time to recover.

i was in to donate my next pint... when i almost fainted... in the waiting room. that day i did not donate. the red cross never invited me back again...

i really don't like the needle in my vein :-)

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now i'm comfortable again. left hand has a bandage but no more pain. right hand has a cannula but neither ache nor pain. deb leaves. she'll take grandson from daycare to his home, head home herself. to finish the weekly housecleaning. then back to pick me up at about 7pm. poor deb, another long day.

in the list of things that the dex drug does, i may not have mentioned that it is an upper. a mild stimulant. on top of that, when i get home i like to "unwind" before i go to bed. unwinding usually involves a book and the pc.

last night i'm trying to access an online spreadsheet from my developing phone app. it's a new technique for me and clearly just as new for the people who posted examples on the web. none of the examples work. some are just nonsense.

i'm up till 2am trying variations on the apparently simple commands. i can get data from the spreadsheet -- huge feeling of satisfaction -- but it's not in a form that i can read. this morning i may have found an answer but have no time to test it.

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the ivy appointment is rescheduled from 9 to 2:30. that gives us a "free" morning.

we go for a run, i stay with my daily 3km. is the run before chemo helping? i don't know. but i do feel good for the exercise. my only noticeable side-effect -- so far -- is a tense stomach. feels just a bit unsettled. has no interest in fatty food. oh, and taste-buds are somewhat... muted... tasting food as being a bit flat.

otherwise i'm feeling well. tired after too little sleep. today i let deb do all the driving.

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i've had a drip of dex in saline. a litre of saline to keep the kidneys working. now i'm getting the b drug... in another litre of saline

it's 5:30 and all is well :-) a bit cold. a bit tired. but feeling comfortable.

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Almost 9pm. I've been snoozing in front of the tv. I snoozed at the clinic, it's nicer to snooze at home with Deb. Not sure if I'll be with Deb tomorrow for grandson minding. It will start before 8am and I start at the clinic at 4:30pm... would be a very long day. Just as long for Deb but she's tough :-)

Time for bed. See how I feel early tomorrow morning...

====    Dr Nick Lethbridge  /  Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting / Problems? Solved.
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"If I had only one hour to save the world, I would spend fifty-five minutes defining the problem, and only five minutes finding the solution." … Einstein
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dying for you to read my blog: notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com.au :-)
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