The infection subsided as did the swelling and some of the pain. On Thursday 25th Oct, one of my twin daughters gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, while at the hospital visiting her I picked up my 3 year old grandson and felt something rip in my chest. I had a deep painful bruised feeling for several day and then noticed that the pain began to reduce markedly, I felt for the port but it wasn't where it should have been, it had moved. It had broken away from the bone where it was stitched and moved into the breast tissue where it could not be accessed. At my next chemo session the oncologist decided that the port was useless and had to be removed, my second drug had to be changed to tablets and they would have to use peripheral veins for my IV chemo. I was really angry that I had been through the insertion process, the antibiotic allergic reaction, the infection and hospitalisation to end up being able to use the port just once. She had never heard of a port dislodging like that, they are meant to be robust and for people to be able to work while having chemo.
I have started on my oral chemo, Xeloder. I am now on a 3 week cycle so I have the IV infusion over 3 hours at the clinic and go home with tablets which I take twice a day for 14 out of 21 days. Then I have one recovery week without the drugs. So the one and only positive is I don't go home with the pump around my neck. I am tired all the time, but have found that if I take the drugs at 11am and 11pm instead of breakfast and dinner I can get a few hours of energy in the mornings. I have had no other side effects so far, other than slight nausea which is manageable. The vein in my arm ached after the IV Elaxitan but I made an essential oil mixture which I massaged into the arm and it took the pain away completely.
Here is the mix, I made it up using oils to heal bruising, it worked for me:
In a base of about 20ml of carrier oil- I used sweet almond-
A few teaspoons of arnica cream, 15 drops Hypericum,
10 drops lavender, plus I added a small amount of Lasonil ointment.
I mixed it well in a small jar and massaged it well into the arm.
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1 comment:
Roanna:
So terribly sorry to hear about the trouble you've had with the chemo and your port-a-cath failure. When Jane had hers inserted, they nicked her lung and she had a mild pneumothorax for a few days. Nothing is easy, or painless, I guess. I hope this next week goes better for you. Thanks for keeping your blog up to date!
doug
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