PICC out!

Yesterday I had an appointment to have my new port checked out. Apparently I am a good healer and the port is ready to go for chemo next week. As a bonus, while I was there they removed my picc line, so I have reclaimed my arm and will be able to shower without putting on my silly 'water wing' device. I am absolutely thrilled by this development, as it also means I no longer need to go to weekly 'picc maintenance' appointments.

I didn't even feel the picc line coming out - they just pull it out through the hole and then put some gauze on it, same as if you were getting bloodwork done or giving blood. The tube was thin and white with a mark every cm along its length so they can make sure they get the whole thing. It was 42 or 43 cm long (I forget which). So weird that it's so easy to pull out.

Here I am, 5 minutes before picc removal. Obviously smiling! Both 'devices' visible.'




Here I am at home, enjoying my newfound arm freedom. :)



Here you can see my two new scars. The large part of the port is just below the horizontal scar. Feels like a weird lump under my skin, about the size of a nickel...or maybe a quarter? The more vertical scar closer to my neck helped them gain access to my neck veins to insert the line that goes to my heart. All conveniently hidden under my skin. Truly amazing.


This was a busy week with science fair (our team did great at the Canada-wide fair!) and walks and visits. I'm feeling great this weekend; I will probably have a nap or two, but overall I feel very much like myself. We had dinner with friends last night which felt wonderfully normal. This morning we finally put away the winter mittens and hats and coats because we are fairly sure winter is finally over. I also needed to make space for my new summer hat collection!

Comments

  1. AnonymousMay 21, 2022 at 3:11 PM

    As is the case for many great warriors, there are battle scars. Glad yours are healing well and quickly. Yay for pic removal!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousMay 22, 2022 at 9:49 PM

    Glad you are doing well, Amy. You have a lovely head and I think you look pretty amazing with your lint-rolled melon. You are rocking it with the cool hats and your home-woven scarf game is also on point. Happy belated anniversary! Beth

    ReplyDelete
  3. Bonnie PMay 25, 2022 at 8:44 PM

    You put the mittens away?! Oh no! Now we’ll have one last snow storm for sure! (Or does that only happen when you take off the snow tires?)

    Thanks for doing this blog Amy. For those of us who want to but can’t do anything to help, it somehow feels better to know what stages in treatment you’re in and getting a glimpse of your cheery face despite the seriousness of the situation.

    You are deeply missed at Eastview. Praying for you!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I've Got Cancer

  So, it's official...I've got cancer. I wasn't surprised to hear those words. Sometimes you just have a feeling. We are still waiting for some results from pathology that will provide us with more details about the type of cancer. This information will be important for deciding on the sequence of treatment. The initial report shows that I have cancer in my breast and also in the axillary lymph node they biopsied. Based on our conversation with the doctor today, we are fairly certain that both chemotherapy and surgery will be required. On Monday I have an appointment with a surgeon and hopefully by then we will have most/all of the information we need to figure out what happens next. A good piece of news is that my bone scan was clear! I was very happy to hear this, because when you think you might have cancer you have the tendency to over-analyze little aches and pains. I'm glad my hips only ache because of 'old age.' ;) I am in very good hands. We are so thank...
Read more

Setback

Image
Well, any of you who know me will understand that I don't like failing tests! Today I went for my pre-chemo bloodwork and my platelet level was lower than my oncologist would have liked. This means that tomorrow's treatment is postponed until next week. I find this annoying more than anything. I don't like changes in my schedule and I also dislike the thought of my treatment taking longer than I imagined.  The silver lining (because I am good at finding those) is that I get another week of feeling AMAZING. More walks, more fun, increased enjoyment of food...I'll take it! Even though I don't have a choice. :)  Also, more time to MAKE THINGS. This week I finished my latest embroidery sampler. It helped us learn 6 different 'filler' stitches and though it took a long time I love the different textures and colours. I'm thinking my nurses would dig it! Our visit with our Peterborough friends earlier this week was great. Like balm for my soul. We walked and pl...
Read more

Check Out My Heart!

Image
This morning I had an echocardiogram to check on my heart health before I begin my treatment. Cancer treatment can sometimes be hard on the heart, so getting a good picture of my current heart health will help us identify if there are any changes over time. This was, of course, another opportunity to geek out a little bit. The 'echo' is an ultrasound of the heart. It took about 30 minutes to take the required images. They gather information about the heart muscle, the valves, and blood flow. After all of the images and videos were collected, the technician showed me a whole bunch of them. To look at blood flow they use doppler imaging, so the colour of something (in this case blood) moving towards the probe is different than the colour of something moving away from the probe. Very cool to see. I wish I had an image to share with you.  I got a peek at several different parts of my heart including a really nice cross-section of my aortic valve (which is a normal, healthy tricuspi...
Read more