So Saturday 7th June, about 6.45 in the morning, I'm lying in bed when my right femur and hip suddenly start hurting. Like, really hurting. Thinking I'm lying funny, I shift but nothing dims the pain. Five minutes later I am shivering, and within half an hour I have serious rigors and a red leg. I'd also had a bad headache for a week. Hello systematic cellulitis. Hello ambulance.
Actually, I tell a lie. My leg wasn't red at that point so my immediate thought was bone mets in my hip and leg. After four hours in A&E, it was quite the relief to see cancer leg was crimson.
I'm going to cut this post short because it followed the same plot as May 2012. So here are the highlights:
9 cannulas
Yes, over 8 days in the medical assessment unit, my veins managed to collapse enough that I needed multiple cannulas per day, plus many more attempts to get them in. When they ran out of veins in my hands, arms and wrists, they started looking at my feet: thank god the only usable vein was in the crease where ankle and foot meet so it wasn't really feasible. After a nurse, foundation doctor and SHO all failed to get the last cannula in, they started talking about a central line in my neck and I was actually all for that, because my arms were so bruised and painful. Luckily, some smart bugger got the 9th and final cannula in after three attempts, and thanks to my heroic efforts at not moving or bending my arm for 36 hours (which, believe me, is very painful) we didn't need the central. Special thanks to the nurse who didn't bother telling me I no longer needed a cannula until I asked that night. Cheers, I really enjoyed the extra 8 hours of pain and non-movement.
Meningitis scare
Despite me telling them I had cellulitis which had turned into sepsis, they insisted on treating me for meningitis for the first 60 hours. The side effects of the anti-virals included limb paralysis and hallucinations (I 'saw' people in bed with me and in my room, including a clown, a murderer and a vampire. Quite terrifying.) They then decided to do a lumbar puncture and I knew it was going to be bad when they brought a nurse in whose specific job was to let me squeeze her hands. In the end, it took four attempts and lots of screaming and crying. Turns out they needed a longer needle to get to my spinal fluid. My favourite line that day came on the fourth attempt: "maybe we should give it a minute for the anaesthetic to work". Yes, there's an idea!
CT cock up
So after a head CT on the Sunday, they decided to do a body CT on the Tuesday. I said, please put the contrast in very slowly as my veins are tiny, and check the cannula is in first. As it happens, they did neither of those things, which resulted in me receiving an arm full of CT contrast dye. I CANNOT TELL YOU HOW MUCH THIS HURT. Basically my vein collapsed under the pressure of the dye being injected, I started screaming "Stop! Stop!" and the nurse said "It'll all be in in a second", totally missing the point that I wanted him to STOP INJECTING! The result was a rock solid shoulder, bicep and tricep for 24 hours, a horrific metal taste like the usual but x 1000000, and a night spent vomiting stomach acid as I hadn't really eaten since Saturday at that point.
I am sure there's more but those were the highlights. On the Friday, I could move onto oral meds so I got discharged and out of there as fast as I could. I am on the mend now, helped along by 18 antibiotics a day plus 3 anti-emetics and 6 NSAIDS for the phlebitis (vein inflammation) in my left hand and arm caused by the IVs. Not that you asked, but I've also got c diff and thrush...splendid antibiotic side effects. Scarily, I have no idea what caused the cellulitis, and that worries me because I don't know how to prevent it. I do, however, know maths so based on my history of May 2012 and Jun 2014, I can confidently predict my next bout will be in July 2016!
In other news, I've had a number of moles whipped off since I last wrote, a few of which were atypical (as in, pre-cancerous), including one on my chest which has annoyingly left a large angry red scar. Ah well, better scarred than dead.
Finally, another teeny met has set up shop in the usual place on my leg. I've been watching with interest as it appears to have stopped growing for now, but I will flag it on Monday when I see Dr S.
That's everything. Enjoy these photos:
