Josh's Journey

This week was almost exactly the same as last week except for one major exception. I arrived and checked in like normal, then nurses took my vitals. However, issues occurred when my nurse went to put in my IV. Unlike other days the nurse couldn’t find a vein for the IV. She searched my hands using tourniquets and hot packs, however she couldn’t find any obvious veins. She even searched my arms which is something they hadn’t previously done. They couldn’t go in at my elbow because apparently that’s very risky with the highly toxic Vancristine.

Finally the nurse chose a vein in my left hand that seemed to be somewhat hidden, however, she thought it would do the job. She wanted to use my left hand because my right was still bruised from the previous week and she wanted to give it a chance to recover. As soon as the needle pierced my hand the vein seemed to vanish. The nurse began “digging” around in my hand attempting to find the vein. Halfway through this process another nurse, looking to use the room to put in another patient’s IV, came in. After some more “digging” the other nurse took over. She was able to pierce the vein, however, when the IV went into the vein hardly any blood came out. The nurses decided that because the Vancristine is so toxic, and that the vein wasn’t responding well, they wouldn’t be able to use it.

Finally the second nurse found a much smaller vein in my right hand, the one they wanted to give a week to recover, and was able to insert the IV. There was very good blood flow and everything was working well. However, because the IV was in a much smaller vein I could easily feel it and it was slightly more irritable.

After waiting about an hour and a half, I met with my oncologist. I began talking with her about my vein and the possibility of getting a port. As I’ve said before, I really wanted to avoid getting a port. I didn’t want to have another surgery. However getting a port now seemed inevitable. I knew that if I had to get a port,then I just wanted to get it over with. My oncologist encouraged my dad and I to wait two more weeks until the intensive period was finished. She encouraged me to do so because once the intensive was finished, and I had my next MRI, we would know more about how the tumor is reacting. We decided that if this form of chemo was working, then it would be a good idea to receive a port. However, the reason she was having me wait was if this form of chemo wasn’t working. If this form of chemo is not working, then I would only have to get an IV every two weeks and getting a port might be pointless. The rest of the chemo in the second option would be administered orally.

Later on that day when I was in the day hospital, the nurse who put in my IV stopped by. She said that she overheard my discussion with the oncologist and that she thought I would be able to make it through another two weeks. She said that even know putting in my IV was painful, they didn’t even need to call in the IV specialists. I actually found this reassuring because I imagined that putting in the IV was more frustrating for my nurses than it was for me. I guess not!

So now I’m waiting. Hopefully the chemo is working. If it is then I’ll be getting a port before the maintenance period starts. Sorry I was a little late posting this week. As always if you have any questions or anything you’d like to hear about, please let me know.

-Josh

Tags: Chemo, chemotherapy, CHOP, IV, oncology, port, Vancristine