Since my chemo last week, my left arm just below the cannula entrance had raised up, become swollen and very warm to touch. I called the hotline after the first day, as it was stiff and gone hard. They advised me to draw a circle around it where it was red to see if it keeps spreading. They believe it might just be an infection from the cannula, however in my mind, as it had gone hard, I just kept thinking about cellulitis! I had previously had cellulitis from a kickboxing injury, and I just hoped it wasn’t that.
The next morning the redness had gone down, so the infection hadn’t spread. It was still pretty warm, and there is still swelling and a solid lump under the redness, but it wasn’t painful, so I was happy if it kept shrinking, it wasn’t cellulitis.
Due to this, today, I decided to swap arms for chemotherapy. I have already had 12 Blood tests and 8 infusions in my left arm, think it was time it had a break!
My right up isn’t as forthcoming with my veins, and it also didn’t help that I didn’t walk to chemo today as the UK is being battered by storms, so I wasn’t as hot as normal which helps the veins pop out, but the nurse managed to get the cannula in straight away which is great.
Another session down, and home time! 😊