Wednesday began at 6 am. The hospital had called me Monday to tell me I had to be there at 8 am for a 10 am appt to have some blood work done. Fine whatever. I got up and got ready and at 7 on the dot my dad arrived and took me to the hospital. This time we were going to the hospital itself instead of the care center a block away. We signed in at admittance and after filling out more paperwork (you figure by now they'd have all this info) they gave me a pager and had me wait. 5 mins go past and they page me and tell me to come with them while my father waits for me. They take me upstairs to the prep room and have me dress in a gown and pack my clothes in a bag. They bring my father up who waits with me. Today I'm paired with a nurse Tay who clearly has ADD and talks very fast but is very cool and makes things a little easier. When I show her my battle scars from Monday she is horrified. Why had they drawn blood from the back of my hand? Why had they stuck me so many times? I didnt have answers to those questions. She explains she will have to put an IV line in. I tell her that's fine just dont use the back of my hands. She says ok and does her best to find a vein. She finds a vein but there is a knot in it from Monday's fiasco. They have pretty much hit every vein in my right arm so it is hard for her to find one that isnt bruised already. She gets the IV in and then I'm waiting. She asks why was I hear so early and I explain I got a call on Monday telling me I had to be there at 8 so I can have blood drawn. She looks confused. She looks on my chart and finds a small hand scribbled note telling her about the call and then she looks mad that she didnt know. She explains that while she was putting the IV line in she could've drawn blood then but now with it taped down it would be hard. I tell her that's fine and give her my left arm to draw blood. I explain the veins are harder to find in my left but they work just as well once you get one. She says she will get a butterfly to use instead of just a needle which I appreciate. It takes her only a minute to find a vein and draw 3 vials of blood out my left arm. I'm impressed because usually nurses cant get my left arm to cooperate. She tells me she's 1 of the best in the hospital. I will have to remember that if I ever have to come back in the future. After Monday's nightmare I need a nurse like Tay who is quick and painless to make this less traumatic. We are done with everything before 9 am so now I just have to sit and wait for over an hour til they come get me.
At 10 am a nurse practicioner comes in to get me and she explains to me everything that is getting ready to happen today. She explains how the port will be installed and how it will be used to feed the chemo drugs into my body. Basically a port is a small device that will be inserted into my chest under the skin with a catheter line that feeds directly into my jugular vein. This avoids them having to find a vein in my arm each time I come for treatment and some of the pain and burns associated with that in the past. Another nurse arrives to take me out and Im led to a stretcher where I lay down with all my belongings underneath. They have my dad walk with me and tell him he will go back to admittance and wait til the end of my procedure when they will page him to come back up to see me. We part ways at the top of the hall and I'm wheeled down to a CT room where my procedure will take place. The nurse explains to me that this is not their normal room so they are scrambling to find all their equipment and bring it back into the room where I am. They hook me up to oxygen and a blood pressure cuff which begins to take my pressure. Needless to say with all the stress it is very elevated. The technician talks to me and tells me his mom is a 25 year breast cancer survivor and that treatment nowadays is far beyond what they were back then and that I will be ok. I tell him thank you for that is something I need to hear while I'm freaked out. The nurse explains that she will be giving me 3 fluids through the IV. The first is an antibiotic to avoid a skin infection from the port, the 2nd is a sedative to help me relax through the procedure and the 3rd did something else. She hooked up a line to the IV in my arm and pumped in the first drugs. I cried out in pain. She came over and asked did it hurt and I tell her yes. She looks at my arm and tells me that the line isnt in the vein. Oh lawd. So she takes the line and I ask her not to do my hand. She finally gets another vein in my right arm and gets the line in. This time it works and when she pumps in the antibiotic this time I dont feel it. The technician explains because I have large breasts they will have to tape down my breast so they can be sure to get my port in the right spot. They clean my chest and then tape my breasts down. They cover the area to seclude it from the rest and hook me up to electrodes which they connect to a heart monitor. After this the nurse pumps in the sedation. It takes only a minute or so before it kicks in and I'm drifting in and out of conscious as they completely cover me in a plastic sheet. Now if I wasnt falling asleep I would probably be freaked out because it has the sensation of being in a body bag and if it wasnt for the oxygen being pumped into my nose I would feel like I was suffocating under it. I dont know what the 3rd drug did, but now I'm barely able to move and I'm so tired I cant keep my eyes open. The next sensation is the doctor over my left side. He explains he is putting in the numbing medication. I feel a needle in my chest and I wince and cry out in pain. I feel someone grab my right hand and squeeze it to reassure me. I am covered in the plastic sheet so I cant see anything or anyone but just that little jesture is comforting. The doctor tells me he is putting in a second dose and I feel the same hand there to comfort me. After that I relax. I am feeling too sleepy to fight or get up..I just want to doze off. I start to snooze a little as I feel them cutting into my chest. I dont feel the cut as I feel the pulling on my skin. I feel them tug and move my skin around. I feel something at my neck. I feel fluid running down my neck which I'm sure is blood, but I cant see it, just feel it. After several more minutes it is finally over. They help me back onto the gurney and wheel me back into a recovery room. I am drifting in and out of sleep. I want to wake up so they can go get my dad but I cant get my eyes to stay open. The nurse tells me I will be in recovery for an hour and then after that I can go home. They take out my oxygen and leave me attached to a pressure cuff. Mmm Hmm..gotcha. The sedation starts to wear off and I start to come around. The nurse calls down to admittance to tell them to let my dad up. The nurse comes into check my pressure. It is still elevated. She explains that after the stress of what I've been through this is normal. I hear my dad in the hallway and I feel comfortable and relax. He comes in and we sit and talk while I wait for the time to pass. They bring me water to drink because I havent been able to drink or eat since midnight and I'm dehydrated and hungry. I tell my dad I want to go eat after this and he says ok. An hour passes and they get me up and walk me down the hall to see how well I'm doing. I'm fine and so they tell me to get dressed while they send my dad to go get his car. I throw on my clothes and grab my things while they bring in a wheelchair to take me down. The tech wheels me down to the lobby and I get in my dad's car and leave. We go get breakfast despite that it's 2 pm now and afterwards we head to my apt. My dad asks what time we have to be at the hospital tomorrow and I tell him 11:15 am. He says ok as we pull up to my apt. I go in and lay down for the rest of the day despite the fact that my throat is killing me where I am bandaged. I take 2 motrin and an advil pm and sleep til late that evening. When I wake up with my throat hurting I take more and go back to sleep til 4 am when I wake up wide awake.
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