Page 161 - She's One Crazy Lady!

for theatre, being told it would be a local anaesthetic. I’m not so sure “ it was, for I can remember laying on the operating table listening and
watching what they were doing... a blue sheet was placed in front of my face and the next thing I knew, almost five hours later, I was asked if I’d had a good sleep! Everything had gone to plan with the line, but they didn’t reckon on me being out for the count for so long. I wasn’t in any pain so I just sat back and relaxed, chatted with a lady in the next room and waited until the following day to have the 4th dose of chemo which, I am glad to say was so much better and pain free. On leaving, with my ‘dangler’, as I called it, hanging outside my chest – positioned in my cleavage (well, what once was a cleavage!) – I was, once again, made aware of the seriousness of having the four rounds of Taxotere and was given yet more drugs to take home with me and a note for the District Nurses to contact me to help with the weekly flushes and bloods that would be needed. Another new experience over.
Thankfully there were no problems health wise and the side effects of No. 4 were minimal and bearable, so I was able to get out and exercise more as I had been told to build myself up in readiness for the next, stronger, four rounds. I still had work to do for the Crazy Hats Day and I truly felt in a better place apart from having to sort out my finances with half salary imminent. Dad had also been moved from St. Mary’s to a care home in Stanwick that we were all happy with and where he was to remain, and was well-looked after for five years – now we had to think about what was best for Mum for the family bungalow was too much for her to manage on her own and with her eyesight failing, not safe.
The first of the Taxotere cycles was pencilled in for 3 weeks later and in that time I had my first encounters with the District Nurses who insisted they came to see me at home as they didn’t want to subject me to the possibility of picking up an infection if I were to sit and wait in the surgery. Coming to my house felt strange and just another new thing to accept and get on with. Enter Mairead! We seemed to click immediately as she was so friendly, reassuring and very interested in what I was going through. She admitted she didn’t have much experience of patients with a Groshong Line, but the first flush went smoothly enough and she removed the stitches in my neck and the one that was holding the line in in my chest. I say the flush went smoothly but when it came to taking blood a few days later, before the first round, Mairead, brought another ‘sister’ with her. Both Mairead and ‘Maggie’ were smiling, smiling because they said they had never taken blood out of one of these before and proceeded to get an instruction booklet out. I looked on with fascination.
“We want you to jump up and down,” they said, “we need you to get your blood pumping round so that it flows easily.” They were looking at each other, still smiling. Were they having me on? “No, go on, jump up and down.” I was laughing then. I didn’t need to jump up and down – with all the excitement my blood was flowing quite nicely, thank you!
We want you to jump up and down,” they said, “we need you to get your blood pumping round so that it flows easily. ”
I was to see Mairead many more times over the next few months
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