First Injection Done
So the first injection has been done. Amazing amount of safety checks and briefings before the actual jab was administered!
First, loads of blood samples were taken to check I was in a fit state to have the injection. Then weighing me to work out dosage (just call me “Dump Truck” for those of you who are fans of Sumo wrestling…). Finally, a lengthy explanation of what was going to happen, what precautions I need to take for the 7 days immediately following the injection – being “Radioactive Man” has its drawbacks – followed by some waiting around for the results of the blood tests.
I confess my stress levels were high when I arrived at the hospital due to both apprehension about the injection process – especially the insertion of the cannula (i hate those things!) – and our journey from home which took much longer than planned due to traffic issues. Still, we made it within my designated time slot and I even managed to sort out the weird concessionary parking permit system as well.
Needn’t have fretted about the cannula as I hardly felt it when they stuck the thing in my wrist, and most of the rest of my time at the hospital was spent between the waiting room and the cafeteria.
Didn’t have too long a wait before the test results were in and it was time for the injection. Didn’t feel anything other than my arm went a bit cold. Oddly, I had to do some physical jerks – arm waving and walking on the spot – as this is needed to get the radium circulating round my body. The nurse showed me it’s progress via a radiation meter (disappointingly it didn’t click like in the movies!) and then gave me a final pre-departure briefing on how to make sure there was no risk of anyone coming into contact with radiation expelled from my bladder or bowels for the 7 days following the injection. We’re lucky we have multiple toilets at home so I’ve taken over one for the next 7 days; must be tricky if you only have one toilet and several people in the house.
I was warned I might feel a bit sick, have diarrhoea and feel washed out after the treatment. Well, that kind of sums up how I am on quite a regular basis and so far it’s the “washed out” bit that’s making me feel grim.
I’ll add a further update in a few days.