The wobbly human pin cushion ......Cycle 4, Day 11

At today's hospital visit the nurse had problems finding a vein - Steve's are known in the trade as "wobbly", a highly technical term that means they have a tendency to squirm out of the way when they see a needle approaching.  She ended up doing it twice - once to take bloods, and again for the cannula to deliver the trial drug, Velcade.  A pragmatic approach, but we noticed that she wasn't wearing the usual blue protective gloves, doubling the opportunity for hospital acquired infection.  Oh dear. 


The pin-cushion effect on his arms is increasing. He's been punctured 19 times since chemo began, taking into account todays' double whammy and two abortive visits when bloods were taken, but no chemo given due to a low white blood cell count.  


Luckily, no problems on that front this time round, although it took five hours before the test results came back and Steve was cleared for treatment - longer than our last visit when the samples had to be courriered off-site for testing. Hospitals move in a mysterious way.  


Steve came away with bald patches on his arms where the hairs came off along with the tape that holds the cannulas in place.  Now he knows how it feels to have your legs (or other body parts) waxed. Add to that nausea and morning sickness, and he will soon qualify as an honorary woman (if he doesn't hold that title already...)


We are now a bit demob happy.  No more chemo until 13 October. Bliss.

Birds flyin' high you know how I feel
Sun in the sky you know how I feel
Breeze driftin' on by you know how I feel
It's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new life for me
Yeah, it's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new life for me ooooooooh
AND I'M FEELING GOOD

Mike Bubble/Nina Simone