Monday, August 17, 2015

New nurse at clinic today; still learning, which made for long session

I had Emma drive me to the clinic this morning because my right arm was so sore that I thought I would not be able to drive myself.  I had injured it last Tuesday by using an orbital sander to prepare the legs of the dining room chairs to attach pads that would protect the new oak floor in the dining room.  I used a random orbit rotary sander to smooth the chair bottoms, but I did this out on the east side deck with the chairs resting upside down on the deck rail, which meant that I was using the sander at about shoulder height and by the time I had finished doing 4 legs on all 8 chairs I had a distinct pain in my right triseps.  The pain gradually subsided until yesterday evening when I jerked a sheet of paper from a holder mounted under the kitchen cabinet and sent a very sharp pain into my arem.  The pain is still so bad that I cannot raise my right arm above my shoulder.  I even have to drink coffee with my left arm.

After registering at the clinic I went out to the Hallway waiting area to join Emma and wait to be summoned in for vitals, etc.  A new nurse, a tiny little girl by name of Charlotte, came to take me in to be weighed and then to chair number 5 for more vitals.  She wasn't sure about what to do next inasmuch as it was her first day in the Infusion Room and I told her that on the third Monday the nurses draw 2 vials of blood from my Medial port.  Camille was nearby and she gave Charlotte instructions on placing a line in my port and the blood drawing, which instructions were either not clear or not followed closely because she did not get blood after flushing the line with a saline syringe and Camille manipulated the needle to get blood flowing and to draw one vial of blood sent off to the lab, but could not get a second.  Eventually a second line was placed in my Lateral port to draw another vial and a syringe containing a solution to dissolve any blood clots in the first line was injected.  The wait was then on for results on the blood and then for the dissolving solution to take effect.  Camille told us that the wait would be at least an hour and we would have plenty of time to eat the sandwich, which had been ordered and delivered some time earlier.  The blood work report had arrived and been printed for me by Charlotte and the Velcade ordered and delivered around noon. But
it was not infused until about the time the dissolving solution was finshed, which was after 1:20.

Camille told me that I should have the Medial port used again on my next visit Monday to make sure that it is functioning properly.

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