Another treatment under my belt as they say!

Quite an emotional one today as Fiona was having her last Herceptin and although I don't want to see her again on West Ward I will miss our chats and laughs..

Managed a hug and a goodbye then I could feel myself welling up and so was she so I left sharpish so we didn't both blubb..

Actual treatment went ok, the nurse who acccessed my port had to take a blood test from there too as it's needed for my next appointment...when she flushed out after the syringe slipped and saline squirted all over my face/hair and neck...I couldn't stop laughing, she was mortified - at least it wasn't the syringe full of blood!!!

Not really looking forward to my next appointment as it's results day/check over - bloods/scan and heart echo..which means a bit of 'scanxiety' over the weekend before and then I'll prob have an upset stomach on the morning...roll on 16th November is what I say...

Feel a bit frightened that my good luck (if you can call it that) may run out soon...one of these days the scan will show some movement of tumours and I want that day to be so far away it's unbelievable...

love Clare xx

Had another treatment this week...all went well and I was home in record time ..back by 12noon!

A lady I have got to know there will be having her last treatment in 3 weeks time and to say I'm jealous is not quite right but I so wish it was me and that I could say I'm 'cancer free' for the time being...

I think we'll be having a bit of a celebration on the ward that day, as to reach the end of treatment is a huge thing. I bet we both cry as we both got teary the other day just talking about our situations to each other.

It's funny how people are different though..I had my mastectomy and chose not to have reconstruction...my surgeon ruled out immediate recon and then after they didn't encourage me to have it done either, so I haven't bothered. The other lady on the otherhand had immediate reconstruction tweeking and fiddling about until it was right for her and is having more surgery to make it exactly as she wants it...she even refused a port in her chest wall as she felt it would look odd....for me having one in the arm is odd!!

Funny how two people going through the same thing think so differently. Maybe if I hadn't got secondaries I would be going down the recon route and trying to get my life back to 'normal'...my life will never be the same, no amount of surgery will rid me of this disease so I'm just glad to be here as I am for as long as I can be.

Love Clare xx

woohoo...

My Power Port lived up to it's name and delivered the contrast dye for my scan as it should...no reason why it shouldn't have but I was a bit anxious that it worked properly!!

As usual no one knew what was going on....te radiographers hadn't heard of the dye being passed through a port before and hadn't heard of Esme or Sheila who are the hospital's line/picc and port specialists....

I got there at 1pm and started my barium drink....yuk! Luckily Esme turned up at 1.50pm to get me ready for my 2pm appointment.  She explained to the radiographer in charge what it was she was doing but they still looked a bit confused!

All hooked up and ready for my scan she connected the contrast dye tubing and asked the radiographer what psi their tubing was and it's 300psi.....to my relief she told them that the port tubing is 400psi, so that made me feel better as I knew it would withhold the pressure.

Scan went ok and I had a audience watching the dye being delivered direct to the central line.

All done and Esme explained to the radiographers that although they can't deal with ports now it won't be long before they do as RBH are slowly getting people to have power ports fitted instead of  picc lines as it just makes thins a whole lot easier.

I must say it was a damn sight easier for me and no pain of them trying 3 or 4 times to canulate me and bruising my arm.

Now all I have to do is sit it out and wait for the results...16th November!!  I could make an appointment in a couple of weeks time but I can't see the point of going to the hospital and waiting around more than I have to I have to have a full set of bloods done too and another heart scan before my appointment in November so I'll have all the results together.

Love Clare xx