Today was a long and painful day. I got to Kings at around 10.30am. It was ages before they called me in and took some blood from me. What made the waiting more bearable was a lovely chat with Diana and Pete. Really nice to see your smiley faces.
Bloods came back in the safe zone so I was taken to the catheter theatre to have my new Hickman Line. It was the same consultant I had seen last time. For those who don’t remember, what happened last time was I was laying on the operating table and all prepped when the consultant realised that the right side of my chest was occluded. In other words blocked from a previous Hickman line that went wrong. He then said as he had to tunnel across my chest from the left he needed a longer line. That meant the procedure was abandoned that day as they couldn’t find another line that was compatible with ECP.
Today was the next appointment I was given. I turned up with my longer line. The theatre staff remembered me. When you have these lines put in you are lying flat on your back. You have to look to the right and keep your head on the side. A sterile drape is put over your chest and face and then they tent it. All you can see is the drape and the eerie light it creates.
They then clean your chest with the coldest alcohol gel. Brrr. Next comes about 8 bee stings in the form of the local anaesthetic. Then they make a few cuts and thread a wire through from near my left shoulder to the top of the heart. The consultant was puffing and panting and he said there was a lot of scar tissue. He was putting a lot of pressure on me as he guided it over my chest. As he was doing this I suddenly experienced the most excruciating chest pain and my pulse started racing. The consultant was good and took some extra ob’s and fiddled some more with the line. Eventually the pain eased off. It was really unpleasant and gave me a glimpse of what it must be like to have a heart attack. The consultant then said that the line was too long and needed to be changed. I could’ve swung for him if I’d been able to move. I said i brought a shorter one last time and you wouldn’t do it. He said I was small and the other line may be problematic if left. They then left me for about 40mins while they tried to find a shorter line that was compatible with ECP. By the time they tracked one down I needed the bee stings all over again so they could remove the long line and replace with one that fitted better.
While I was lying there I could feel the blood trickling down my shoulder and back. It was warm and felt weird. I ended up looking like I had a head wound. No wonder I was being stared at when I popped into M&S on the way home.
At one point I had to say to the consultant was there an chance he could be a bit gentler. Maybe because they can’t see our faces they don’t realise how rough they are being. I also know it’s difficult when there is so much scarring to get through.
I’m in quite a lot of pain tonight. It’s a deep internal ache. I know it won’t last long but for now I hope I can prop my self in a comfy position and get some lovely sleep.
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