33. Chemo III & Persephone shenanigans

Chemo III today. 8.30am appointment. I park on Kareena Rd like usual, 7 min walk or so up to the oncology clinic. I'm sweating rivers by the time I get there. Disgusting FUKTIG day today. That's Swedish for humid, well damp, but Helen said it was the word to use. Much more satisfying saying fuktig. Helen was my 4th cousin from Ängelholm I visited in October 2019. Unfortunately she passed away in August 2021 from a sudden heart attack. Very sad and I miss my conversations with her. I also chat with Johanna who lives near Göteborg (Gothenburg), I think she is a 3rd cousin once removed but need to look at the family tree again to confirm that. I met her as well and she can confirm if my memory is correct about fuktig or not. I've been learning Swedish since 2009 and use Duolingo to practice. I'm good at reading Swedish, not too bad at writing it (grammar is my weak point), and need more practice listening and speaking.

Where was I? Oh yes, sweating rivers. So gross and then having to wear a mask and feeling like someone is trying to suffocate you. I wore the headscarf that Adriane bought for me and got some compliments on it. It is very comfortable and my head doesn't feel hot or sweaty in it. Adriane was giving me some head hugs in spirit today and I needed it as the day took a dive into some shenanigans with my port. I decided I needed to name it and so thought Persephone worked well. She was the queen of the underworld in Greek mythology and seeing as the port is inside me, or under the skin, it made sense. The alliteration of Persephone the Port is quite nice too.

The morning started out like usual. Sarah is the nurse I have today. Weighed (140.8kg, lost 1kg this fortnight), 36.5c temperature, 123/82 blood pressure, 98% oxygen, 90 pulse. Blood test is good again. I have a little bruise on my nail of my middle right finger. Not sure why but Sarah says to keep an eye on it. A not so good symptom is tingling or loss of feeling in fingers and toes. I haven't had that and hope I don't. It was almost 9am by the time the needle was stuck in Persephone. The nurses need to see a 'blood return' so they put a syringe with saline into the tube and push that through and then pull back on the syringe to bring blood through. Well, Persephone didn't want to play that game today did she. Another syringe, more saline....turn my head to the left, nope, turn it to the right, nope, cough hard, nope, lie down (the chairs are the comfy electric ones so I push the button to lie down), again nope. I'm either bloodless or something isn't working properly. Sarah hooks up the bag of saline and says she'll put through some of that and try again. About 10 mins later, she tries and nope, nothing. Saline is pushing through ok but no blood return.

Nurse Mocsima comes over to try. She is sure that the needle is in Persephone but after another couple of syringes she decides to take the needle out and try again with a new one. This time when she swabs it with the antiseptic cleaning stuff it's the fluorescent pink colour. Nothing like a 10cm diameter fluro pink splash of colour to highlight the bosom for all to see. Maybe Persephone is just being a bit snarky cos she didn't have a name until today. 9.30am now and Mocsima sticks me again and we try the whole procedure again. Head turns, lying down, coughing, deep breaths. Nope, I'm told to get up and walk around for 5 mins or so, swing my arms above my head. Maybe I should do the Nuttbush again...though jumping around with a needle in upper boob area is probably not a good idea. Nope, Persephone just doesn't want to join in the fun today.

Kim comes and talk with me and says that I'll need to get an x-ray to see what is going on with Persephone. There is something called a fibrin sheath that may be the cause. At the end of the tubing that is near the heart a little flap can form and when the saline is pushed through it is pushed away but when they pull back on the syringe it flaps closed over the tube hole and so that can be why there is no blood return. Or maybe the tube is pushing against the side of my heart atrium a bit. Anyway, a call is placed to the medical imaging department.

I had brought along my hand sewing of the hexagons and also there was a guy next to me that was chatty and he has family in Scotland so we had some good discussions about that. I do miss Scotland quite a lot. Sarah came and says that they are still trying to get through to medical imagine but if they can't by10.15am then they will put in a cannula in my left arm and do the chemo through that. I remember that my car is in a 4 hour zone and hope that I'll be done in time. I send a message to the family text group to let them know what's happening and if anyone might be available to move my car if needed - spare keys are at home. Sarah tells me that the parking at the hospital can give 3 hours free if I show the attendant my appointment card. That might work when I'm on the weekly treatments and it's bad weather or I feel crappy as those treatments are shorter than the current ones.

10.25am Nurse Emily (there is an Emily, though I do think that I mixed up Jasmine with Emily previously) came and put a cannula in my left arm, about halfway between my wrist and elbow on the inside. I wonder if Persephone is having a sneaky giggle at the kerfuffle she has caused or grumpy that attention has turned away from her. I'm able to still sew hexagons with the cannula, not quite as well as before but it's doable. I've worked out I need to do at least 6,080 hexagons for the project I'm doing. I don't really mind how long it'll take, it's a relaxing process. I couldn't sew when the 'push' happened, the two big syringes with what looks like cranberry juice or raspberry cordial in them. The nurse has to slowly push that in over about 15 mins or so. Around noon lunch is offered, I choose the egg and mayo sandwich again. On white bread. I looked at the other types and the cheese and salad may have been brown bread but the tomato had sort of oozed into the bread and it didn't look too nice.

Medical imaging seem to playing hide and seek today. I hear that the lady who could do the procedure I need is interviewing new staff or something like that. It's highly probable that Persephone won't be looked at today and I'll have to come in another day, maybe tomorrow. Kim will give me a ring and tell me when. Bring it, more appointments to add to my story - I don't have anything in my calendar this week until Friday at 1pm where I hope I feel ok enough to do an exercise class with Lewis. Well, I have choir on Thursday night but I don't think they'll do the x-ray at 7.30pm......?

By 12.33pm I was done and when I got back to my car there was no parking ticket, phew! I actually saw a parking ticket officer outside the Emergency department. He was putting chalk marks on the 3 cars that were parked there. It's a 15 min limit there. I ask him how strict for time they are on Kareena Rd and he says they aren't usually that strict on that street. He also said that if I did end up having a ticket it should be easy to fight because the reason would be documented in the hospital. When I drove off, I checked Frederick St (the one before Kareena) and that is untimed. I'll park in that one next time. It'll only add 200 metres of so extra of walking. Besides, walking is good for you!

It's just after 3.30pm and I've been feeling my head do it's weird 'I'm here but not here' spacey chemo thing and the tummy is starting to feel like it's going to get into a huff soon. I'm also starting to feel a bit tired. I did have a baked sweet potato with cottage cheese on top and some crackers with avocado and hummus (not on the same cracker) when I got home. Wanted to get something in before the tummy turned. I will probably have the cauliflower and cashew soup tonight for dinner. Stay tuned for more of the Persephone x-ray story this week.