Quote:
Originally Posted by spectre
After my central line ( a catheter placed into a vein in the heart, put there so the larger vein will dilute the chemo going into the bloodstream) got infected, it had to be removed. I was given chemo through the much smaller veins in my arms, hands, and eventually feet as the months of chemo had left the veins weakened and easily susceptible to collapsing (and they did often). I was given high doses of morphine due to the burning from the chemo as it slowly went through. Where the real pain came in was when the veins in my feet collapsed and some of the chemo pooled. The chemo ate away the protective, fatty coating around the nerves in my feet and lower legs (neuropathy). This caused any and all sensation felt by those nerves to be interpreted as intense pain. Anything from a temperature change to a slight breeze to a touch was agonizing. It took a few months of physical therapy and a lot of steroids before it went away. Now, it's just an occasional thing that's no where near as intense. It has left numbness throughout my lower legs and feet, but that's much better than it was.  |
This whole post immediately reminded me of a day I had an out patient nerve block. I was in for my 8th or 9th nerve block. My foot and leg hurt like hell. I had to drive in pain about three hours, hadn't slept in days. Then I had to walk about 1/2 mile in hail and rain because I couldn't find closer parking. I made that walk with one barefoot as I couldn't fit a shoe on my foot. By the time I made it to the office for the procedure I was pissed off at the world, in a lot of pain and couldn't possibly feel more sorry for myself. I went to the counter to check in and the nurse told me "fill this out, take a seat, we'll call your name." She never even looked up from her computer. I had a really strong desire to tell her to go fuck herself. I didn't, of course, I filled the forms out and returned them. I sat, I waited, I felt like shit. I had the thoughts 'how much longer is this shit going to go on? When will this be over? Why me? Oh why, oh why... poor me" rambling through my scrambled brain. Just then the entry door opened and they wheeled in two kids in wheel chairs. Both were strapped up so they wouldn't fall out of the chairs. Both were under 5yrs. Both looked miserable and in pain. I took one look at both of them and thought "man am I an asshole."
I read the above post and think "I was sad because I had no shoes, then I met and man who had no feet."