34. Ample Breasts

Thursday 9th. Time to find out why Persephone isn't working properly. My appointment was at 1pm at the medical imaging department at Sutherland Hospital. I left home in good time, not knowing what the weather was going to do or where I would get parking. It was raining a bit when I left but got heavier the closer I drove to the hospital. I found a park on Frederick St and walked the 14 mins or so to the front entrance. I needed my umbrella as the rain was quite heavy and the wind blowing. Hold on tight a few times and try not to become Mary Poppins. I walked in bare feet, holding my thongs (that's flip flops for non-Aussies) as walking in wet thongs is not very easy and can be rather dangerous. Knowing my accident prone life better to walk in bare feet than slip and need to have an ambulance called. At least I was nice and close to the hospital!

I arrived at the reception for medical imaging, my contacts were all foggy and blurry from the humid weather, they had moved from where they should be so I had to move them around to refocus enough to fill in the forms. Questions about if I'd had contrast dye before, yes, was I pregnant, no, was I Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, no, did I have various other health issues like diabetes, heart problems, lung problems etc etc, no. I signed a medicare consent form so it could be bulk billed. Thank you Aussie health care system. I sat in the chair in the waiting room, envisioning steam rising off me as I tried to cool down. At 1.05pm nurse Kim came and said they were running a little late and she would be back soon to access my port. I didn't mind, I wanted to cool down a bit more before having to move again.

The TV that was on the waiting room was some daytime show that was running through news cycles of the earthquake in Türkiye and Syria, and then onto some sort of mundane comment about fashion and make up, then onto the culture wars in the USA House of Representatives, and then onto some other short stint about super foods and how they are going to help people live their best life. Like whiplash between the terrible things happening in the world and the supposed things that will save you from those terrible things. The advertisements were annoying. Reminded me again why I just don't watch TV.

Kim came back around 1.20pm and walked me to a changing room. Put on the fabric gown, opening at the back. This one sort of fit ok, sort of, the back didn't join up but I didn't mind having it open, I might cool down more. I had to take off my top and bra, not my shorts so I didn't mind having the back open. Kim said "here's a nice warm towel for your back". NO thank you! Shudder. I politely tell her that I like the cold and am still way too hot from being out in the humid rainy day. We walk to a comfy chair somewhere else in the department. She pulls some blue curtains around and then starts pulling out lots of things from a stainless steal trolley with two drawers. Syringes, needle, vials of saline, dressing pads, gloves etc etc. That stinky antiseptic stuff they smear on you whenever they are going to stick you with a needle. It is not nice for a chemo tummy to smell. URGH. I try not to breath it in but it's almost impossible. Don't throw up!

Kim has a feel of Persephone, poke, prod, push....she looks up. I comment "The oncology nurses think it should've been put in higher up". Kim makes a non committal sound, perhaps she agrees. She asks me if I usually have a long needle for the port and I say "It's yellow" and she nods. It's the one she had gotten out. She tells me to breathe in and hold my breath and on the count of 3 she stabs Persephone. She then puts a syringe with saline on the other end and pushes it through. "It does go through quite easily doesn't it." I nod. She pulls back, no blood return. That's the problem that needs to be fixed. She puts a clear dressing on the needle so it doesn't move around and says that someone will be alone soon to take me to the x-ray room.

It's about 1.45pm by this time. I should've been "on the table" as they said by 1.30pm. Oh well, I have no other plans. I take out my phone to update the family about what's happening. We have a family text group. Donna replies back that they have torrential rain at Heathcote. Then Ange sends a photo of their back courtyard with about 20cm or more of water in it. Evie is loving the fact that she now has a pool in the backyard. Ange says that friends of ours who live a street or so away from them had their downstairs flooded. I decide to see if there are any news articles about the weather. Bloody oath! The highway at Waterfall southbound is closed due to flooding. The train line from Waterfall to Kiama is closed due to dangerous track conditions. McKell Ave at Waterfall has had another landslide but one lane is still open. The coast road is closed on either side of the Sea Cliff Bridge due to two landslides and falling rock. There is multiple sections of the coast road further south with dangerous water over the road. Schools are being evacuated at Woonona, Bellambi, Unanderra and other places. The Shoalhaven area had gotten 368mm of rain, 116mm in one hour. An Aged Care home at Culburra was being part evacuated due to flooding. A car has been washed out to sea at Stanwell Park. The Audley Boat Shed (Historic and recently been renovated) has water up to it's roof and the cafe and shop may have been flooded too. The Audley Weir is way under water and a car has been swept off it (people were ok). I don't mind being stuck in the hospital if there is crazy weather happening outside.

A nurse comes to tell me that they are running behind and did I need anything. I said I was fine. About 10 mins later, another nurse comes to check on me. I said I was ok and glad to be out of the crazy weather. She says her sister worked at Kogarah Bunnings and it had to close due to half a metre of water in the carpark. She also said that one of the carparks at the hospital had so much water in it that cars were shifting and bumping into each other. She asked where I had parked and I said my car should be ok on Frederick St...unless the gutters got so much water in them... No need to worry about it. What will happen will happen and I can't do anything about it. An orderly heard us talking and said that the ceiling in a storage area of the hospital had fallen in due to rain as well.

Nurses come and check on me, our family text message group is busy with stories and discussions about how Shell and Dyl will get home with trains not running and roads closed. Ange is picking Aneira up from school and a friend will get Zaeli from pre-school. When I first sat in the chair there were 3 people in beds in the waiting room and a man in a wheelchair. He had a swollen left leg, all red and puffy. He'd had a major allergic reaction to penicillin and the rest of the swelling had gone down apart from the leg. A lady in one of the beds starts coughing and then vomits down her front. A nurse rushes to help clean her up. She's asked to open her mouth but is either medicated too much, too sick or perhaps has dementia and doesn't do it herself. The nurse then tells her she will have to reach into her mouth and proceeds to do it. I can't see much of the lady but she is very small, frail and has white hair. I feel sad for her and wish that someone she knows could be with her to give her comfort. After she is cleaned up she gets taken away somewhere else.

I look at my watch, it's about 2.45pm. A nurse comes and apologises for the wait and asks if it's ok that the Dr have his lunch as he hasn't eaten yet. I don't mind. I'd rather he didn't faint of hunger on top of me during the procedure! I realise I hadn't eaten for almost 4 hours and get out a date hazelnut bliss ball. I also need to pee. Best do that before the procedure. 3pm another nurse comes to get me. Shift change has happened, I saw them all in the break room doing handover. She profusely apologises for me as she realises that I have been waiting for hours. I tell her I didn't mind so much and had been busy hearing about all the crazy weather and roads closed. We chat about that and then she calls out to a nurse who was walking by. She tells her about the highway being closed at Waterfall. This nurse lives at Fairy Meadow. She decides to go visit her parents at Engadine to wait out the crazy weather and road situation.

I'm taken to another chair outside the x-ray room. It's the same one where Persephone was put in. I'm told it won't be long, turns out I'm in that chair almost 20 mins. I'm taken into the x-ray room and I lie down on the skinny table, with a big square x-ray plate above my chest and head. I'm asked if I feel claustrophobic, I don't. Even though it's only about 15cm away from my face. A nurse takes a few x-rays and then says we need to wait for the Dr. Dr Phil. I have a bit of a laugh, hoping he is nothing like the one on that terrible USA TV show. I am not sure how long I had to wait but it felt at least another 20 mins. He bustles in, introduces himself, says he's sorry for the wait, he's the only one on duty today.

He puts a syringe with some contrast dye in it and pushes it through Persephone. I glance up at the monitor above my head and I can see the moving x-rays and the contrast go into my heart. That's pretty cool. Dr Phil says "It pushes in fine and it is in the right vein and into the heart". He tried to pull for a blood return. Nope. He says it's not a fibrin sheath, it's suctioning onto the side of my heart atrium. Yep, that would be right. I never do things the easy way do I. He gets me to cough, turn my head left, right. The nurse tips the bed so my head is down, almost 45 degree angle. I hold onto the side so I don't slip off!! Dr Phil tries to get blood return. Nothing. "Give me a really big cough" he says. I do, nope. The bed is put back up level again. Lie on my left side, nope. Lie on my right side, nope. Turning over on that skinny bed is very tricky but I don't fall off. I'm asked to sit up. Still doesn't work.

Dr Phil decides that he's tried enough positions. He says "The port is working fine for chemo but the oncology protocol says they have to see a blood return. It is up to your oncologist team to decide if they want to trust that it is ok to use as is, or the port will have to be replaced." He shows me on the screen where the end of the tube is in my heart and says it should be about 3-4cm further in. Usually ports are put on the right side but because I had 34 lymph nodes cut out it isn't a good idea. He shows me how the vein on the right side is a quick and straight line into the heart. The left side does a dog leg type thing and then has to curl around a corner to get into the heart. He then hesitates a bit and says "Um, how do I say this...." and I say "big boobs?". He half smiles and says "Yes, ample breasts can also create issues for port placement. I didn't do this procedure? (I shake my head) When I do it I always ask what the patients cup size is as it makes a difference to how it's done. I strap the breast down towards the side and waist. If you don't do that then gravity pulls the breast up towards the collar bone and so the port placement seems higher than it is. So what happens is the tube is further in the heart when the procedure is done but then when the patients stands up and moves around it is pulled out because gravity pulls and moves the breast around. This can then create the problem you have, where the tube suctions onto the heart." That's a great description of why it doesn't work. I did think myself it should've been higher when it was done and now I know why the first Dr might have thought it was placed higher when he did it.

So, I need to see my oncologist and decide if it's ok for them to use as is, or Persephone will need to be replaced. If she does, let's hope that Dr Phil can do it. When I left the hospital the sun was out, it's was like a sauna outside. Totally disgusting. I detest saunas. I obviously didn't get that Nordic gene. I drove home, the roads were wet, busy, but ok, a few traffic lights were out and police were directing traffic. Shell and Dyl eventually did get home, the highway opened again. It took them much longer than usual but the kids had been bathed and fed for them. What a crazy day it was!