no more NEEDLES!!!

I knew there was a good reason I didn't want to get out of bed this morning, I mean besides chemo. It just didn't come together today. I started my morning by very reluctantly rolling out of bed at 8:30 ( Chemo at 9 ). I took a quick walk down to the royal bank to deposit a cheque then on to VGH. I arrived at 9 where the nurses warmly greeted me, "Chaya's here!" =). So far so good, I even had some Emla on my arm so that the needle wouldn't be a problem. First try -- no luck. Not only did I feel the needle the whole time but IT DIDN'T WORK=( We had to try again, so once again I braced myself....only for *another* failure =( =( So what next? Well because I've had several treatments now my veins have shrunk and they're harder to find. So the only logical next step was to get a PICC line put in, which is basically a semi-permanent catheter that sticks out of my arm. It goes into a big vein in the underside of my arm and stays there for the rest of my treatment. The upside? No more needles. NONE. They just hook up the IV to the end of the PICC that sticks out. The downside? No swimming, no baths, having something sticking out of my arm (tank tops and tee shirts beware), and the seven additional needles required to get it done today. I have to be honest, most of them weren’t too bad because three of them were little freezing needles so that I wouldn’t feel the big one, but still, NINE needles in one day is not fun for a squeamish girl like me. It was also an 8-hour adventure, so I’m beat. I did get a white spot chocolate milkshake and some movies though, so life goes on.