3 Day procedure

Where to begin....at the beginning I guess! We went over to the other hospital on Wednesday around 11am. Our driver wasn't sure where to go and had to stop twice to ask for directions. Finally we arrived, hot and bothered, I signed several pieces of paper some in English and some not (which made me laugh). Up in our room the nurse came in with a plastic bag full of 'things' and left it on the counter telling me 'what you'll need for 3 days'. It was a collection of syringes, antibiotics etc Another nurse came back and wanted to put my cannula in for the drip. My veins are difficult to find at the best of times and they were having trouble. She wanted to put it in my hand but I said no, theres not way I could have that in my hand for 3 days. She tried my wrist and i said ok, as long as it wasn't where my wrist bends. I looked away while she put it in and when I turned back it was exactly in the crease of my wrist, which meant i couldn't put any pressure on it to transfer myself, so every time i had to move I needed help, I got frustrated and tried to put pressure on it but it filled with blood and I had images of it breaking in my vein.
The nurse did a test dose of antibiotics and 30 minutes later I'd had no reaction. I was taken to the operating theatre where upon arrival Dr Ashish was already in there. "I've been waiting for you" he said and I responded "well that makes a nice change for you to be waiting" and laughed But he actually got the better of me because as I looked over I saw him unwrapping a green cloth and revealing a silver tray with what looked liked utensils. He saw my face and said "i bet your scared now" and laughed. "Yes I am" I responded "and I'm really sorry for the cheeky comment, you take as long as you like" We both laughed and I felt more at ease.
I was rolled onto my left side and curled up into a tight ball. Dr Ashish injected the local anaesthetic which always stings. A nurse squeezed my hand, I looked up at her and she blinked her eyes at me, she had the kindest brown eyes, i blinked back at her and she continued to hold my hand. It took a while to find just the right place as Dr Ashish pressed around my spine, eventually he inserted the epidural catheter. It was taped all the way up my spine and a 'port' was placed on the end. I was rolled onto my back and watched him inject two syringes of cells into the port. The familiar feeling of pressure came into my lower back. I was wheeled back to my room where I had to lay on my back for 4 hours with the bed elevated at one end by one brick under the feet.
Later that night Dr Ashish came back to inject more cells. This time i layed on my right side while he injected the cells and stayed in that position for only 2 hours. It was the same thing the next morning but I lay on my left side, Thursday night I was allowed to sit up for 2 hours and then Friday morning I had to lay on my tummy for 2 hours, but this time he injected 4 syringes of stem cells. After each injection of stem cells the nurse would inject two types of antibiotics into the cannula, one antibiotic would burn and i could feel it travelling up my vein to my shoulder, I was told that this was normal and she rubbed my arm.
There was long periods of nothing to do and I wasn't comfortable transferring into my wheelchair because of the catheter in my back. Going to the toilet was a mission, the toilet was very small just over 1 meter long and about 3/4 of a meter wide, so not wheelchair standard, in fact the bathroom door was to small to get my chair through. The hospital is just very old. Gaye slept on a mattress on the floor next to me which was pretty uncomfortable.
On Thursday night Gaye went with Amy (Amy is here with her husband Louis whos having his 4th round of treat, so they've got everything all sorted now) to the night markets near by for a short walk. The markets are 500 years old and were built to provide/defend the king who was located on the same site. The market was very busy and Gaye was very excited to find fresh peas that she could shell and eat! I think it was a good experience but Gaye felt not one she needed to do again. Before leaving on Friday the nurse removed the cannular and the catheter from my back, she ripped the tape off my back as if it was a wax strip, it made us laugh, thank God I'm not a man with a hairy back!!
We were both so pleased to return back to the dormitory style hospital on Friday afternoon. The 3 days weren't bad but just difficult for access and isolating. I was back into physio on Saturday but I was quite tired. It will be interesting to see how I go at physio this week after receiving such a large amount of cells. On my first trip here I didn't have a 3 day procedure, this was my first and it was ok. I had a slight temperature one night and a little stiffness in my lower back but all considering, I felt good, I'd just like 1 day of not being man handled but as my sweet American friend (thats you Russ) advises me "suck it up princess"!!!!
We went back to City Walk mall today, 14 of us from the hospital had lunch together and it was really lovely for a change of scenery and change of food!
On return the lift wasn't working, so I sat down stairs for 45 minutes waiting for them to fix it. Eventually the ward boys and Dan (a guy from Aust) carried me up 3 flights in Cleopatra style, to discover Dan had bought us cake!!! My hero! They say a way to a mans heart is through his stomach..pffftt, the way to my heart while receiving stem cells and feeling like I'm eating for 50 million is with cake! The stem cells increase your appetite and you have to treat your body as if your pregnant and you tend to crave sweet foods. Does that mean I can be emotionally irrational and demanding too ha ha (no smart comments from previous carers or current carers considered:-)
My Dad is flying in tonight, arriving at 2am which will be good, Gaye is taking a taxi to meet him, we've made friends with a driver so we felt safe her travelling alone at that time.
Monday morning comes around quickly, I wonder what this week has install for me....:-)