We set off around 9:10am to get to the hospital in time for Mum to have her PICC line put in... And got there for about 9:45.
There was some sort of delay, which ended up with us being sat around...well, me being sat... Mum was given a bed to lie on (unfair!). The bed was really high up so Mum had to literally climb up onto it, and shortly after, one of the day treatment unit nurses called Joe (an Aussie) came over and told Mum that they can lower the bed for her to get on, and told her that it's a hospital not an olympic training ground! Ha!
The nurse finally got to Mum around 11:30 and her name was Winnie. She was LOVELY.
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| Winnie perfoming the Ultrasound |
She explained the procedure, and Mum had to sign a consent form. She then informed us that she was waiting for her colleague who was part of the Line Insertion Team, to assist her with the procedure.
Her colleague, named Nicola (also LOVELY!) arrived around 12ish and they began.
Winnie had performed an ultrasound on Mum to find the vein that they were going to insert the PICC line into, eventually she found it and then she got gowned up ready to perform the procedure, and prepped Mum for it, under the supervision of Nicola (who seemed to be, I assume, the head of the LIT). Fully prepared, and ready to go, they gave Mum an injection of local anaesthetic and began.
- Apologies for the pictures - they are a bit rubbish (I was trying to be sly..) -
The first attempt at the PICC line didn't go too well, it was slightly in the wrong place and the wire wouldn't insert properly...so Nicola had to intervene and she gave Mum some more anaesthetic, and re-sited it - and it went in first time! Perfick!
I got a bit freaked out as there was a fair bit of blood, so I went to go out and get some air and came back armed with lunch, courtesy of the League of Friends cafe...yummy! Me and Mum had our cheese/ham rolls and then she was asked to vacate the bed, and move to the seated treatment area.
It took a little while for them to come over and hook Mum up to the machine, and first they had to do a flush on the line which went smoothly...
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| Mum having the line flushed |
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| Fantastic Machinery |
Shortly after, Mum's chemotherapy was delivered from the pharmacy, and they began.
Now before the PICC line, Mum used to have it done through a canula in her hand, which would always bruise and would end up being really painful (usually because it would take up to 5 attempts to get the needle in due to the state of Mum's veins) so the PICC line was a real godsend. Instead of the cold feeling Mum would get when having an infusion, and being able to feel the liquid going through her veins, she felt nothing. And was able to relax (and people watch..lol).
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| Mum looking bored |
The infusion takes around an hour, plus the time it takes to get the dregs out of the bag, and then a post-chemo flush of the line again... but at this point we'd been there for over 4 hours and we were both tired and wanting it to just hurry up so we could get home.
Mum still found time to have a laugh and a joke though...
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| The infamous "face" pose! |
The woman next to her was having an infusion and had been there from the minute we walked in, sod that! Mum was talking to her when I took this photo, and a couple more pics which were equally as blurry!
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| Looking far too relaxed! |
There were absolutely no issues with the chemotherapy at all, no allergic reactions (which is one of the highlighted side affects) and as per usual, Mum just BREEZED through it like it was nothing.
Once the chemo had finished, they flushed the line with around 50ml of the sodium chloride solution, and we were on our way (with a big green bag of dressings, solutions and other things ready for the district nurse to arrive tomorrow).
The nurse who dealt with Mum's chemo today was called Debbie, and she was lovely. Really engaging, sweet natured and friendly... to be perfectly honest, we're so lucky as all the staff at the Churchill Hospital are equally as nice as each other, and make it that bit easier when you're there by making you laugh and smile.
This evening we've mainly been relaxing... Mum feels fine, in fact she feels better than fine. She even stayed up until Dan got home from work around 10:15ish, and when I came home at about 11:15 she was still awake with Dan and eating a take-away!
What exactly was I losing sleep over? I should have known she'd kick-ass like she always does...
H xx
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