Post by Dave on Mar 3, 2011 23:18:31 GMT
I think the last time I ever heard a fire alarm bell, was when I was at school and they were only rung to practice the schools fire drill.
There we were Carol and I yesterday sitting in the waiting room as Carol was going to have yet another CT scan, when bells were ringing loudly in our ears. Yes it was the fire alarm bell and we were soon being told to get out of the hospital.
I have to say how orderly it all happened and no one panicked at all and once outside the hospital building we were told to go and stand in car park 7. Considering the fire station is in front of the hospital, I was surprised how long it took the two fire engines that turned up to get there. Sometime later we were all given the all clear to go back inside the hospital.
It certainly added a good deal of time we ended up in the hospital, but that as it turned out was no near as long as we had to spend there late this afternoon and early evening.
After being so very unwell this last week, I was expecting Carol’s chemo to be cancelled today, but I got a call from her to say it was still going ahead.
Thankfully I got all my work finished in time to be with her in the Ricky Grant Unit. Her appointed was for 3.45pm, but we know from experience to expect things to be running and hour or so behind as was the case again today.
Then finally Carol’s turn came around and off we both marched into the private room when everything gets set up. They have to use a children’s needle device on her due to the fact her veins are now so very small. Everything was ready and the packet was opened and the special needle with a fitting on the end the lines get connected to was taken out.
Due to the size of her veins it’s a very difficult job to get the needle in the vein and also very painful. The first attempt failed and so the needle got thrown away and a new one taken used for attempt two. That failed as well as did attempt three.
As each nurse can only have three attempts another nurse had to come in and see if she had any better luck. The problem is they can’t go very far up the arm and can’t go below where an attempt has already been made. This is due the fact they would have made holes in the veins and would not be able to tell if the vein they are going to be trying next, was linked to the vein above with a hole in it. If it was then the chemo would leak out of the hole and that would be very dangerous.
The new nurse had three goes as well with out any success and so nurse number thee Sue was called to have her three goes. In the meantime two veins had been blown up and they were running out of veins to try. Sadly Sue who got one in first time last week, also failed on her three attempts.
I was getting concerned as I felt Carol was unable to take much more as from the very fist attempt to failed attempt number nine, it have taken nearly one and a half hours.
In the end Lee was called for, Lee is one of the managers at the Ricky Grant Unit and also a senior nurse. We have known Lee for over eight years now as he has worked in the unit for a good number of years. If anyone was going to be able to get the thing in, then it was Lee and once again he came up trumps for Carol. I could not thank him enough and all the other three nurses who tried their very best.
Next week is the last session of the second block of six and it has already been arranged that Lee will be the one who does Carol as she can’t afford to have many more veins damaged.
After that Carol will be getting a three week break from chemo before the next block of six starts, it’s possible she will have up to eight blocks of six in total. Due to that probably being the case, once next week is out of the way, Carol has agreed at long last to have a picc line fitted. A PICC is a long, thin, flexible tube known as a catheter. It is inserted into one of the large veins of the arm near the bend of the elbow. It is then slid into the vein until the tip sits in a large vein just above the heart.
This will put an end to all these extra problems for her and it will be a simple matter of just connecting everything up to the picc line. It will also be used to take her weekly sample of blood that gets taken the day before her chemo is due, to ensure her blood is able to take the next dose of chemo.
Can’t thank all the wonderful staff at the Ricky Grant Unit enough, such caring and dedicated people who go far more than just an extra mile to help play their very vital part in the very difficult battle people like Carol find themselves in.
Some shots taken on Wednesday
There we were Carol and I yesterday sitting in the waiting room as Carol was going to have yet another CT scan, when bells were ringing loudly in our ears. Yes it was the fire alarm bell and we were soon being told to get out of the hospital.
I have to say how orderly it all happened and no one panicked at all and once outside the hospital building we were told to go and stand in car park 7. Considering the fire station is in front of the hospital, I was surprised how long it took the two fire engines that turned up to get there. Sometime later we were all given the all clear to go back inside the hospital.
It certainly added a good deal of time we ended up in the hospital, but that as it turned out was no near as long as we had to spend there late this afternoon and early evening.
After being so very unwell this last week, I was expecting Carol’s chemo to be cancelled today, but I got a call from her to say it was still going ahead.
Thankfully I got all my work finished in time to be with her in the Ricky Grant Unit. Her appointed was for 3.45pm, but we know from experience to expect things to be running and hour or so behind as was the case again today.
Then finally Carol’s turn came around and off we both marched into the private room when everything gets set up. They have to use a children’s needle device on her due to the fact her veins are now so very small. Everything was ready and the packet was opened and the special needle with a fitting on the end the lines get connected to was taken out.
Due to the size of her veins it’s a very difficult job to get the needle in the vein and also very painful. The first attempt failed and so the needle got thrown away and a new one taken used for attempt two. That failed as well as did attempt three.
As each nurse can only have three attempts another nurse had to come in and see if she had any better luck. The problem is they can’t go very far up the arm and can’t go below where an attempt has already been made. This is due the fact they would have made holes in the veins and would not be able to tell if the vein they are going to be trying next, was linked to the vein above with a hole in it. If it was then the chemo would leak out of the hole and that would be very dangerous.
The new nurse had three goes as well with out any success and so nurse number thee Sue was called to have her three goes. In the meantime two veins had been blown up and they were running out of veins to try. Sadly Sue who got one in first time last week, also failed on her three attempts.
I was getting concerned as I felt Carol was unable to take much more as from the very fist attempt to failed attempt number nine, it have taken nearly one and a half hours.
In the end Lee was called for, Lee is one of the managers at the Ricky Grant Unit and also a senior nurse. We have known Lee for over eight years now as he has worked in the unit for a good number of years. If anyone was going to be able to get the thing in, then it was Lee and once again he came up trumps for Carol. I could not thank him enough and all the other three nurses who tried their very best.
Next week is the last session of the second block of six and it has already been arranged that Lee will be the one who does Carol as she can’t afford to have many more veins damaged.
After that Carol will be getting a three week break from chemo before the next block of six starts, it’s possible she will have up to eight blocks of six in total. Due to that probably being the case, once next week is out of the way, Carol has agreed at long last to have a picc line fitted. A PICC is a long, thin, flexible tube known as a catheter. It is inserted into one of the large veins of the arm near the bend of the elbow. It is then slid into the vein until the tip sits in a large vein just above the heart.
This will put an end to all these extra problems for her and it will be a simple matter of just connecting everything up to the picc line. It will also be used to take her weekly sample of blood that gets taken the day before her chemo is due, to ensure her blood is able to take the next dose of chemo.
Can’t thank all the wonderful staff at the Ricky Grant Unit enough, such caring and dedicated people who go far more than just an extra mile to help play their very vital part in the very difficult battle people like Carol find themselves in.
Some shots taken on Wednesday