The Aftermath

When I finally got home, I was bed bound for most of the week. The constant nausea and pain were horrendous. Most days I just wanted to close my eyes and wake up when it was all over! But obviously having 2 young kids, they had other ideas! I would try to drag myself out of bed each morning to at least wave them off to school and pretend that I didn’t want to vomit all over the kitchen floor! But in reality, it was tough, like really tough.

Your taste is all over the place, and things you ate before now taste horrible. I’d be sending people out for the most random of things- pot noodles, oranges, Haribo! Anything to take the nausea away- hence the 2 stone weight gain, but that’s for another day!

All you really want is something cold to drink, but you can’t due to the Oxaliplatin! I had warm water to take my tablets which is not the best, but when you're taking around 18+ tablets a day, you’ve just got to find the best method to get them down!

After having such a horrendous time with my arm pain, I had researched different methods of receiving the chemotherapy. My sister had spoken with someone who had a ‘portacath’ fitted, which seemed like a much better idea. So, on my next consultant appointment I mentioned this to him. He suggested there were 2 different options available- a portacath or a PICC line:

The Portacath: which is a small chamber inserted under your skin at the end of your central line. The other end sits in a large vein close to your heart. This is where the medicine is administered through.

The PICC line: which is a large thin tube inserted into central line in the upper arm where medicine is administered.

My consultant had informed me one of his younger patients was on the chemo ward if I wanted to have a chat with him. Now in my head I was picturing a young mid 20 something- alas it was not. I’d pitch him around 50 years, but bless him he was lovely and explained how the portacath worked and any problems he had experienced with it.

Unfortunately, as I was due to have my next round of chemo 2 days later, it was too late to get it fitted for this session, so instead they decided to use the cannula in my hand and flush through with saline to dilute the oxaliplatin and therefore not cause the vein pain from last time. This was marginally better, but still not something I could have coped with long term.

I was booked in to have my portacath fitted a couple of weeks later in the day surgery unit. Along with the numerous Covid tests, I was also asked to perform rectal swab for MRSA on myself, (I mean at this point all dignity has well and truly deserted me anyway!)

Rectal swap done, glamourous gown on and I’m wheeled down to surgery. A tent is then taped onto my chest and over my head, as the surgeon wildly jabs at me with anaesthetic. All of a sudden, a little face appears under the tent staring and trying reassure me, whilst the surgeon is slicing open my chest. I don’t know why, but it still makes me laugh today!

**What I would say is don’t get your portacath fitted 5 days before chemo- you will be bruised and swollen and it was very painful trying to get the needle in to administer the medication!**

#bowelcancer #bowelcancerawareness #nevertooyoung #nobutts #Bowels2Cancer