SO. 2pm was my appointment, so after as much breakfast as i could muster (I knew I'd be having my bloods done again and I am NOT good with needles) I went to sit outside in the sun and wait for my cab.
At this point I should give big love to Paul at Anthony Nolan - I'd been in London overnight with work anyway and I was staying at County Hall, and had to get all the way down to the Royal free with all my stuff. So, they got me a cab, took me to their head office where they kept all of my things safe for me, and Paul kindly walked me to the hospital and look me right to my consultant. Honestly he was lovely and sorted my train home and a cab back to Euston out for me, and will be sorting my hotel and trains for me and my mama to come back to London in 2 weeks... but more on that later.
So yeah, I went in to meet my consultant (who clearly did not understand my northern humour, he was very unamused with the whole situation) who was lovely nonetheless. he asked me a LOT of questions (which you've already answered about a million times on all these medical forms... but it is obviously very important).
Then we got started with the medical. He took my height and weight (public weighing!!! but I have lost weight since the week before so yay me!) and then lay me down to check my stomach (not sure why to be honest, think its lymph nodes or something), my lower stomach - just under my hip bones, the glands in my neck, and my nodes under my arms (it was hot outside, thank the lord for nivea 48hr deo). He then checked my blood pressure, my heartbeat in the front and then from the back, and declared me fit as a fiddle.
there is a LOT of paperwork. lots and lots and lots.
- Information for registry Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Donors
- Medical questionnaire (AGAIN)
- Information on consent
- consent form to take extra blood for a study
- information on PBSC
- consent form for PBSC
- information on a central line (EEK)
- consent form for central line (which i was NOT happy with but I'm assured that i wont need because I have fabulous veins... still I'm terrified)
- consent form for G-CSF
- insurance documents
- and finally a NHS consent form for basically all of the above
now I'm not going to explain what a central line is because I'm hoping i wont need one and the thought scares me, and if i start researching it on the Internet I'll end up winding myself up. if you're interested, google it!
I will be donating, as you may have gathered, by PBSC, which is the 'glorified tumble dryer' that my consultant was talking about. it means that i will be visited my a nurse on 8th, 9th and 10th June at home or work by a nurse who will give me an injection of G-CSF (Granulocyte Colony Stimulating Factor for those medically brained) which will basically send my immune system into overdrive, producing loads and loads of these 'B' cells that I mentioned earlier, and releasing them into my bloodstream. Apparently this will make me feel fevery, achey and give me "boney pains" whatever they are. sounds delightful.
Then on the 11th June, me and mama J will travel down to London. I will have my 4th injection of G-CSF at the Royal free, go back to the hotel and attempt to sleep (ha, wont happen!)
On 12th, I'll go to the hospital at 9am and have a blood test. Hopefully then the count of 'B' cells in my bloodstream will be super high and they can put me on the magic machine that will separate the cells from my blood., and then put my blood back into my body.
anyway, following that I had to get my bloods done. fourteen tubes of blood they took, FOURTEEN. six were for research, i think. this is so my blood can be tested for HIV, Hepatitis, etc etc. I then had to give a urine sample so that I could be tested for pregnancy (they do not know how G-CSF can affect an unborn child so they MUST check for pregnancy first).
Then i heard those dreaded words from Sam, my lovely nurse. "I'm sorry babe but we need more blood". why? because there must be a sample taken for tissue typing at a DIFFERENT time from the other samples.
GRR. i hate needles. so that's sixteen tubes. I'll have none left at this rate.
So then it was time for my ECG. I met the lovely Deborah at this point, my consultants PA, and my chaperone. Deborah was fabulous, really lovely, and really took care of me, taking me to my ECG and waiting for me while i went in. ECGs are nothing, you literally get your top half undressed and have the sticky things on you like that scene in E.T. (that always makes me cry as well, but never mind that), and get hooked up to the machine. 2 minutes and you're done.
Then I was reunited with the lovely Deborah who took me down to my X-Ray. Now, I probably shouldn't say this, but Deborah cheekily got me bumped up the x-ray queue so I only waited 10 minutes instead of over an hour. This is where I had to get undressed and put my ridiculous gown on (back to front, typical me) and basically push my boobs up against a wall and stand in a ridiculous position because I was too small and my arms were in the way. But 5 minutes and I was done, so there we go!
Lastly Deborah took me up to meet Violet, who works on the ward that I'll be donating in. Violet was brilliant and told me all about what would happen, checked my veins again "you really do have lovely veins!" (getting sick of hearing this!!!!) and gave me a further opportunity to ask any questions. following this, I was done, Deborah took me to the main entrance and I walked the 5 minute walk back to Paul's office, picked up my bag and jumped in a cab back to Euston.
so that's that!
I'll know in 5 days if my bloods are okay, and if they are I'll be getting all of my arrangements for injections and whatnot in the next few days. I'm nervous but my mind has really been put at ease by everyone there, it really has. and I'll have my mama with me, so everything will be ok :) hopefully we'll save a life!
R xo
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