Now one of the biggest challenges for the nurses - any interactions with me had to be carefully coordinated around my radiation schedule. They basically had 29 minutes to do anything and everything before the alarm starts sounding to warn everyone that the room is about to become radioactive. My nurse offered me a bed bath after my next cycle - I was a bit hesitant after the previous nights disaster, but I agreed. If nothing else, I wanted to brush my teeth!
Thankfully this bed bath was pure nirvana. I was scrubbed from head to toe, I was feeling fresh as a daisy. Best bed bath ever! The only downside was I had a choice of gowns - one that was so small it choked me and cut off the circulation to my arms. Or one that was so big, I was basically swimming in it. And for those that know me, I'm not that tiny! This gown could've fit my entire family in it! HUGE! I stupidly chose the bigger gown thinking it would be more comfortable than being choked to death. And proceeded to spend the rest of the day trying to arrange all the excess fabric so I wasn't flashing everyone! At one point, I had the cleaner in my room washing my floors, and he spent a lot of time mopping the floor as he chatted to me. It wasn't until he left that I realised my boob was totally visible through my armhole (the armhole was so big, I could have fit my HEAD in there!). OMG - how embarrassing.....
The one thing that didn't get washed and changed was my special knickers and what lies below. Apparently only the brachy nurses are allowed to touch that area. So I had to wait for them to arrive to do all that bit. They finally arrived a few hours later just as my parents arrived with my lunch (hospital lunch was another disaster - grilled cheese sandwich, cold and rubbery). So my parents got kicked out to the visitors lounge while the brachy nurses got me all cleaned up down below. Apparently there had been a bit of bleeding and discharge which had soiled the ties holding the rods in place. So they needed to be changed as well as my pad and knickers. Yeah, not a problem, do what you must.
Well, I'll save you the play-by-play, but lets just say, getting the ties replaced and re-tied onto the rods is probably THE most uncomfortable thing I have ever been through. Like, we're talking pure torture here! My nurse came back in as they were finishing and offered me more tylenol 3's. Now usually, only one tylenol 3 is enough to knock me out for a few days (panadeine forte for my aussie and nz friends) At this point, I had been taking 2 tablets every 4 - 6 hours for the discomfort I was in from the rods. And I was still functioning! I said yes, please, bring me what you can, I'm in pain! And pain in the vagina is no laughing matter! My parents came back in and I lost the plot. I was in pain, I was frustrated from not being able to move, I was sick of being dependant on everyone for my every need, and now I was crying and I HATE crying. And I still had 2 more days to get through. After my parents left (funny how they retreated very quickly after my little breakdown!), my nurse asked if the pain had settled. No, I was in agony. She said she would get me morphine. Hmm....now morphine and I are not the best of friends, but hell, I wanted this pain gone. So I agreed. She came back with my magic pills. And how's this for intelligent nurse of the year - I took my pills and THEN i asked her what the dose was! HAHAHAHAHAHA 10mg - a pretty hefty dose for me. I was either going to sleep the rest of the day away, or I was going to be Chatty Cathy with no filter (see previous entry back in october to see what morphine does to me!)
Dinner arrived - beets?? How much fibre is in beets?? and gravyless meatloaf. sigh.
Isn't that the most appealing meal ever?
The next bit of bad luck - when the brachy nurses were torturing me, sorry, changing my pads etc. they had to unplug my stockings. I'm not sure what they did, but when they restarted the stockings, it kept alarming. My day nurse got sick of it alarming and turned them off, and was going to fix them after my next cycle had finished. But she couldn't get them working either. So they stayed off while she was trying to figure that out. Then she left at 3pm and another nurse took over, and she kept trying too. Finally she decided to just switch machines. I pointed out that they had been off for a while now. She checked with her charge nurse and said she couldn't restart them because they had been off for so long. So now I was without my stockings - and I am high risk for a blood clot because I'm lying down for 4 days. Oh goody.
Why they can't restart the stockings - people have been asking. Well the stockings are designed to massage your legs and keep the circulation moving. This is meant to decrease the risk of blood pooling and a clot developing. Because they had been off for a while, there is a slight risk that a blood clot may have formed in that time (unlikely, I was moving my legs around as much as I was allowed, but still....) So if they restarted the stockings, and a blood clot had already formed, the stockings would send that clot out of my legs and to my lungs. Not a good thing. So all you nurses out there, and even anyone who may one day be a patient - if your SCD stockings are turned off for more than an hour, do NOT let your nurse restart them!
Oh well, another day down, roll on friday. Still in pain, but morphine has made me sleepy, so I might actually sleep tonight!
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