Thursday 12th January 2012- I had not really slept at all the previous night. I wasn't worried about anything , I think it was just the effects of the high dose steroids I had been given. The line was not uncomfortable and the bum bag was not annoying me. I did ponder for a while though as I looked at my arm with the PICC line in ..... " I am actually getting chemotherapy at the moment! How did that happen ? This is so surreal !"I eventually got out of bed at 6 am as I was feeling a bit seedy - was it hunger or was it chemo? Who knows!
 Anyway , I wanted to carry on as normal as this "beast" was not going to rule my life- it was just an annoying , uninvited visitor! I decided to have a nice relaxing shower. Having a PICC line can be a problem when you want a shower, as you need to keep the area dry . Never fear -the Beatson nurses had given me a supply of plastic sleeves which you place on your arm to cover the line and bandage while you shower. I proceeded to cover the area and stepped in to the lovely comforting shower. My abdominal wound was healed but I was still having altered sensation to that area - I couldn't feel the Soap and Glory gel as I was smoothing it on - but I knew that that would improve in time.
After my shower I went to get breakfast . I had bought in a supply of Variety packs as I did not really fancy my usual Weetabix or porridge. I took the Coco Pops and was careful when taking the milk out of the fridge, remembering that cold is the enemy of people receiving Oxaliplatin! I put on gloves to get the milk out of the fridge and warmed the milk in the microwave to take the chill off of it.I then took my tablets afterwards -Dexamethasone and Domperidone .
I switched on TV and basically just chilled out! When my family got up later on , Claire noted that my face was bright red . I had felt it a bit warm , but thought that was due to the heat in the house . I was surprised when I looked in the mirror and saw that my face and neck were a florid red colour ! I didn't panic because I knew the side effects of steroids , and i didn't feel ill with it anyway. I wasn't going to phone my doctor every time I had a wee niggle or annoyance.
My day was uneventful as regards side effects , but I had been told that the effects would be cumulative , so I suppose it was early days!
Friday 13th January 2012 - No I am not superstitious! After another wakeful night, same routine as yesterday , but the facial flushing was not a problem today. My pump was still working - I had been told to check it in the morning to see if it was deflating ok , and it seemed to be ! The district nurses were due to arrive to disconnect the pump at 4:30 pm. 4:30 came and went , as did 5pm , 5:30 , and 6pm. I was getting a bit twitchy as the Beatson nurses had said the pump should be disconnected 48 hours after start of infusion. I ended up phoning the district nurse service just to check they had me on their books. The nurse was very pleasant and said that their shift change over was at 4:30 and that the hospital should have said that  it was not imperative that the pump be disconnected after  exactly 48 hours- there was a leeway of a couple of hours.
I will not go in to the politics of the re organisation of district nursing services and how the whole of Glasgow is covered by a health centre which is on the outskirts of Glasgow , and there are fewer nurses to go round - that is for another day!
The district nurse arrived at 6:30 and got to work straight away.This was just a case of removing the infusion pump and flushing the line with sterile saline and capping off the line. because it is a sterile procedure , the nurse washed her hands thoroughly before hand - just saying! Everything that the nurse needed was actually in my house as it had been supplied by the nurses in my own health centre - they had brought a big plastic box with everything in it!
Once the pump was disconnected it was put in a sharps box , supplied by the Beatson , which i would take with me on my next visit in ten days.
The nurse then wrote in my care plan and left - that was me free again!
I still had to take the tablets as the chemo was still in my system and could cause nausea.
The only real effect I noticed from the first chemo was that my tongue felt as if it had a slime on it- disgusting! I was drinking plenty of tea and warm Ribena and warm water , so would need to wait to see how things got on as treatment progressed.
Saturday 14th January 2012 - Another early start after another wakeful night . I had started playing a game called Words With Friends on my iPhone , which was nice because it meant I could hook up with friends and family in America and Australia due to the different time zones- there was always someone online!

Flowers from my work colleagues

Went out to shop with Bill , but was wrapped up like a mummy- no cold air would enter my lungs! Got some lovely bouquets of flowers from my workmates and some friends .Onwards and upwards......