My Diary – March 2009
Tuesday
31st March 2009
I had a nightmare day at hospital last
Thursday. I had my check up MRI scan for
which I needed a cannula put in. I put
the ‘magic’ numbing cream on, and was calm when the nurse put the needle in my
hand. Only she didn’t get it in properly,
so fiddled about with it for a while before taking it out. I went a bit funny then because I knew it
wasn’t going smoothly. I had to lie down
and have wet cloths held on my forehead as I felt faint and sick, but I was
good and didn’t cry, not even a little bit!
She then went into a different part of my wrist which hadn’t had the
cream on, so it stung quite a lot. It
was on the bend of my wrist so it hurt every time I moved my hand. After it was put in, my hand went a bit
strange. It felt tingly and numb and my
thumb kept twitching. I then felt ok and
we headed off for my scan. I had the
first lot of the scan done where they take pictures of my head, spine and ears,
then they put the dye in to make the pictures show up more, and then they scan
everything again. When they tried to put
the dye in the cannula, though, it wouldn’t work. They were looking at it to try and work out
how to fix it, then the cannula just fell
out! Apparently the nurse hadn’t pushed
it in far enough in the first place. I
had been good up until that point but couldn’t handle it after that and burst
out crying. I just can’t help it. I was given the choice of going home and
coming back another day to finish the scan with the dye, or have another
cannula put in a different vein and carrying on with the scan that day. I decided I just wanted it all done and over
with that day because I knew I would be even worse if I had to come back, so
agreed to another cannula.
One silly doctor suggested trying a vein
in my foot! It’s funny because I didn’t
know he’d said that, but when we were talking about finding another vein I
said, “That’s fine, but you’re not using my feet.” I had that done years ago and I still have
nightmares now about it. It’s a big no
no for me to ever have it done again.
Anyway, I then left the scan and went to the IV clinic, which just the
thought of, freaks me out. They said
they could put the numbing cream on but I said I didn’t want it as it takes an
hour to work and I just wanted it done as quickly as possible, and to get home
to Molly and Daizy and a nice cup of Tetley.
They chose a vein in my forearm, half way between my wrist and elbow,
which should have been illegal! I had a
heat pad wrapped round my arm to make the veins pop up which stayed on for
about twenty minutes. I managed to calm
down by this point because when I arrived at the clinic I was sobbing. When it came to the needle going in though, I
was fine. It stung a lot because I
hadn’t had the cream to numb the skin beforehand, but I didn’t cry and was just
glad it was done.
I then went back to the scan to finish
it and came home. It was a very long and
stressful day, and I had a very sore and bruised hand and arm for over a week
afterwards. There was a bright blue
bruise on my hand the size of a 10p piece!
I also have the dots from the needles, and it shows that the second
cannula, the one that fell out, hadn’t even been put in a vein, it was at the
side of it in my actual hand! Don’t
worry though, I have that nurse’s name, and she won’t be doing it again! I get the results of the scan this week.
Fingers crossed they will be ok.
On Monday 23rd I had my eyebrows waxed
in the morning, then in the afternoon I had an interview with the Sun
newspaper. It was about my fundraising and wish list, and should be in the
paper one day this week.
Last Tuesday I had my first proper hair
cut since my hair has grown back after chemo.
I’ve had a few trims, but couldn’t bring myself to have lots cut
off. It was getting a bit too long
though - way below my shoulders - so I’ve had about two inches cut off. It was straightened after it was cut, but it
just looked wrong! I felt very sensible
with straight hair, and looked like my mother, so I’ve now gone back to being
curly again!
On Thursday I went to the Royal Albert
Hall in London to see the Stereophonics perform. They were playing as part of a week of
concerts organised by Roger Daltry to raise money for Teenage Cancer Trust, as
he’s a patron. I was offered tickets to
go in one of the special boxes which was right in front of the stage. Although I couldn’t hear the lyrics of the
songs, I could hear the music and Nikki, my guide-communicator, signed some of
the words on my hand. Plus I remembered
some of the songs from before I lost my hearing which helped. I was also able to feel the vibration from
the music as it was so loud, so I was still able to get a good atmosphere. Afterwards Princess Beatrice came to our box
to meet me which was lovely. Then we
went backstage to the green room where I met Kelly Jones, the lead singer of
the Stereophonics, so it was a pretty good night! Kelly was very nice and I gave him a copy of
my book, so I hope he enjoys it if he reads it!
A big thank you to Richard for the
tickets!
Thank you to everyone who has donated on
my Justgiving page this week - Brett Derrick Hatfield, an Admirer, Jane Shaw,
Luke Williams, Ian Shaw, Clare McCormick, Ross Davies and Kate O. It’s much appreciated!
Love Nicole xxx
*****************************************
Tuesday
17th March 2009
Sorry for the lack of updates - I’ve
been very busy!
On Wednesday 4th I went to Sittingbourne
Community College to give an assembly to around 100 6th form students. They were quite nervous before I arrived,
like most people are before they meet me, but once I started talking and joking
they relaxed and realised that I am actually quite normal. It was filmed by CBS, one of the biggest news
channels in America, which gets around 30-35 million viewers a day, and who
have become interested in my story. I’m
off to crack America! Woohoo!
Hydro on the 5th didn’t go too
well. I ended up feeling ill in the
pool, so had to get out. I only had
about 15 minutes of hydro, so I wasn’t too happy, but I just didn’t feel right,
so I knew it was best for me to get out.
It’s annoying too because for certain reasons, I’m not going back to
that hydro pool, and now have to find another one which could take a while.
Last Tuesday I went to Essex to give a
speech for the Redbridge Rotary Club, which is the Rotary club that organised
my trip to New York last summer. We went
to an Italian restaurant, where I had the very Italian meal of chicken nuggets
and chips! As the chef said in his
lovely accent, “especially for you”! I
gave a speech and was presented with a cheque for £1,000 for Nicole’s Fund from
The Redbridge Club, and then one of the Rotarians said he’d match it, so he
gave me another cheque for £1,000. I was
totally shocked because I didn’t know I was going to receive any money on the
night. The donations have brought me
over the £10,000 mark of my target, so I’m over the moon.
Last Wednesday I went to Windsor for
some more filming with CBS. This was
about the Diana Award I won last month, and the ex Blue Peter presenter, Diane
Louise Jordan, who is a trustee of the award was also there. We went to a hotel
to do some filming and near Windsor Castle which was nice. There are cobbles
outside the castle which Mum pushed me on.
I haven’t had my wish yet to go to Coronation Street and ‘wobble on the
cobbles’, but I’ve now ‘wobbled at Windsor’, which was just as much fun! The CBS film was shown in the States tonight
(Tuesday), so that’s me - I’ve now had my debut in America!
In other good news - I’ve won another award
for my book! It’s called the 1066 Book Award, and was voted by schools in
Sussex. I’ve also made it to the
shortlist for the Lancashire Book of the Year Award. Twelve schools across the area of Lancashire
have taken part to read and review 100 books, and then vote for their
favourite. Mine has made it to the top
10! The winner will now be voted for by
two pupils from each school, and will be announced in May. Fingers crossed! Here is a link to some reviews of my book by
the children reading it for the 1066 Award.
Reviews: TWISI for
1066 Book Award
Enjoy!
Love Nicole xxx
