Sunday 13 January 2008

Pnemonia

In late October, like I said I had been feeling really good. However one night I started feeling poorly and when I took my temperature it was raised, as in over the number that we have to ring the hospital for. As chemo can cause your counts to drop you are more prone to infection and any infection you get can be potentially serious as your immune system is lower than a normal person’s. Anyway I was shivering and felt ill, my breathing was getting worse and my temperature went up to 39. A normal temperature is anywhere between 35 and 37.5. So anyway we rang the hospital and were instructed to go in straight away. We were seen in A&E as was the rule, we had to got through A&E and they would admit me if necessary. Anyway in A&E an infection screen was done which means blood tests and urine sample and your observations (pulse, blood pressure, temperature and saturation levels – oxygen). They also gave me paracetomal to bring the temperature down though we’re not entirely sure they should have done that! And within a few hours I was sent home.

The next morning I felt no better and my temperature was high again, so we called again but this time as it was a Monday morning we could go straight to the chemo uni and see my own doctors. Well sort of, Dr. Smith was on holiday but I saw Dr. Ahmed, one of the doctors I had seen originally. He admitted me straight away, at that point they were unsure what was wrong. My biopsy wound was infected but that didn’t explain my worsening breathing diffcuclties.

I was in hospital for 2 weeks and after a few days they soon discovered, after an xray that I had pneumonia. I was barely eating, could barely breathe and was on 24/7 oxygen. One nurse told me in the first day or so that I needed to find a way of coping, things were going to get worse before they were going to get better; that I didn’t need my oxygen and my breathing was due to me panicking! By the end of that same day I was being monitored by high dependency unit staff and they were pretty certain I had pneumonia so I’m guessing she felt a bit of a fool! She really upset me and I have never quite forgiven her! Luckily I’ve never been on that ward again and am never likely to be. All the other staff were brilliant and Dr. Ahmed was fantastic. I had my blood gases taken which is a very painful injection into the wrist. Not nice! Anyway I was on hourly obs overnight for 2 nights and the only reason I wasn’t taken to high dependency uni was that it was an open ward and I was at risk of infection. They gave me IV antibiotics and hoped they would work. My mum and dad stayed overnight one night and until midnight the next night. My dad had words with Dr. Ahmed who told him to prepare himself and my my mum for the worst as I was very ill and may not make it. I didn’t realise that at the time but have since found out. It freaked me out at first knowing I was that ill but I’m ok with it now,, I got through in the end!! But I don’t think I realised at the time how ill I was. I knew I couldn’t walk from the bed to the toilet (which was at the end of the bed) which scared the hell out of me. Not being able to breathe is the scariest thing in the world!

We though from the x-ray I had while I was in with pneumonia that the tumour has perhaps shrunk by about 25% which we took as a positive at the time.

One night in hospital my cannula I had in stopped working. I needed another one in as I needed the IV antibiotics. 3 doctors tried and failed. I had 5, very painful attempts as a junior doctor, then an SHO, followed by an ‘expert A&E nurse’ who ended up bursting my blood vessel and giving me a bruise to remember tried to get this cannula in. I was so ill and so tired I began to get very very agitated and stressed. By the time the nurse had failed I refused to let anyone else near me with a needle and told people I couldn’t take anymore. The ward sister phoned the doctor and asked if I could have oral antibiotics instead over night but he said I needed the IV ones as they seemed to be working and he couldn’t risk stopping that. When she told me that I screamed and kicked the bed. I was sooo frustrated! I was given sedation which I didn’t believe would work and an anaesthetist was sent back down to do it. He had been in previously but I had refused to let him even try as he wasn’t happy with my veins. By the time the sedation kicked in I was happy to let him near me and called him amazing when he got the needle in first time!! I think dad had been praying for it to work too! It was one of the worst nights we’ve ever had but I managed to get through it in the end.

After 2 weeks I was showing clear signs of improvement, I could breathe again and I was let out of hospital. It took me a long time to recover from the pneumonia, I was very weak for a long time, I wasn’t eating properly though I was getting enough, I had fortijuice drinks to ensure I was getting enough nutrients and enough inside me. I had my fourth RCHOP as an inpatient while I was in hospital. A week or so later I was sent for a PET Scan to check my progress.

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