Avastin Injections

The following 25 minutes dragged while I waited for the Avastin, when I heard the Dr and nurses voices on their return I instinctively stood up and the nurse took my arm and lead the way, the treatment room was described to me as being similar to a mini operating theatre, everything was sterile, only two people were aloud in the room with the patient (that'll be the Dr and the nurse then!), The nurse helped me onto the bed and told me to relax...RELAX, clearly she hadn't been listening to all the horror stories the oldies had been preaching out in the waiting area. I felt some sort of a contraption holding my head in to a stable position and then I was talked through having a 'clamp' attached to my eye to hold it open while the injection was administered....more anaesthetic was put in to my eye, the clamp, I remember, was very cold, I held my hands together on my stomach and was pushing them so hard into my belly that I thought I was going to pass out. How many people stretch their feet out and point their toes when they are in the dentist chair? Well, that was me, knees locked, bum cheeks clenched, and frankly I was crapping myself! The clamp goes between your top and bottom eye lids and, well, holds them open so you cant blink, I was expecting, even though the nurse has said it wouldn't hurt, to feel a searing pain, or something truly horrendous. But all I felt was the Dr leaning on my cheek and just a feeling of pressure being put on my eyeball, which as I write I can feel it now if you know what I mean! I was lucky (or rather the Dr was lucky) that I couldn't see the needle coming! It was all over in seconds, the clamp was off, the nurse was putting antibiotics into my eye and the Dr had whisked off to write my notes up and make me a prescription for a further weeks worth of antibiotics. I wanted to cry with relief, it wasn't nearly as bad as I had been lead to think. Then I was packed off home, this time getting home was a much slower procedure, I was frightened that I might get knocked over, even with my stick and Mum at my side I suddenly felt very vulnerable.
I couldn't put my contact lenses in while I was having antibiotic drops in my eyes so I couldn't go out and I was limited to what I could do around the house, I had to have someone put in the drops for me because I wasn't able to do it myself, that was when the talking books were my saviour, I lost myself in many stories, 'The illustrated Man' by Ray Bradbury was my favourite. But anyway, that was the first of my six injections, as the weeks went on, the 'oldies' became friends and looked out for me and they started having conversations about their lives, families and histories instead of trying to frighten the crap out of me!