A Patient's Battle with Inconsistent Hospital Procedures

As a teenager, my act of rebellion was turning up my music loudly. This happened when my parents wouldn't let me go to see my favorite band. Even then, the music probably only blasted for a short time. Their reason was that I was too young and not streetwise enough to navigate London, especially considering I came from a village with a witches' coven, a couple of pubs, and some nudist colonies. I tried to explain it was Veruca Salt on the NME Brats tour and it was going to be amazing. Asking them separately didn't work because they both had the same answer and the same reasons why January 1995 wasn't the month for my first gig. I hadn't thought about that experience for decades until recently, when a problem with my chemotherapy treatment left me feeling frustrated.

I wished the nurses I spoke to had a clear policy like my parents did 30 years ago. This experience has left me worried about the NHS, where there seem to be gaps in knowledge or understanding of procedures. The final part of my chemotherapy treatment involves a "chemo pump" that slowly delivers a drug called fluorouracil into my body. Over 46 hours, five grams of the drug is infused. This time frame was calculated to be the best infusion time for the drug, which works by preventing cells from producing DNA, killing fast-growing cells to treat various cancers. The pump uses a heat sensor, and because my body temperature is lower than expected, the pump is never empty when I return to the hospital.

This isn't an issue when I have chemotherapy on a Wednesday because the pump is removed on Friday. When the pump isn't empty, the pharmacist and my medical team are consulted, it is weighed, photographed, and then disposed of. However, this week, the pump wasn't emptying overnight on Wednesday. I had to return on Thursday for it to be checked and was booked for a pump removal on Saturday. Unfortunately, the Saturday nurses followed a different procedure than the day unit nurses. I was told to wait for hours before being sent home and told to return on Sunday. The same thing happened on Sunday. I was then told to go to the day unit on Monday, but I was too sick. I went on Tuesday, almost six days after the pump was initially put on. Questions are being asked about what happened, and I've been asked to check with my medical team about the procedure. I'm also going to ask the clinical director for a ruling so all the nurses know exactly what to do.