Round 4

I'm sitting here staring out the Window getting pumped again.  It has been a very strange week for me this week.  I thought that being of the dis I would feel much better, instead I have been constipated for the last couple of days and my hands drying out badly.  Very strange but as one of the nurse said, there is no rhyme nor reason to it when on these drugs.

So I had my PICC line installed at lunch time.  This is where they thread a line through a vein to somewhere close to the heart.  The advantage is the dosage doesn't run along the vein for long before it is mixed all the rest going through the heart and diluted very quickly before being distributed. They give you a local anesthetic before and the use an ultrasound to find the vein and guide the tube in.  It is supposed to be super accurate according to the nurse assisting.  Except of course for my run away veins and the doctor had 2 goes at getting it in a vein.  After which it went in ok and they verify with a chest xray. Anyway about an hour all up.  

And then the fun began. I get to the oncology unit and they plug into the port for a flush and blood flow check.  Instead blood back out of the port they get a bubbly red froth.  That got everyone here really excited.  No one had seen it before and they called on Sophie who is the PICC Queen.  There was an obvious leak in the line somewhere. It had to be on the outside of the vein to be sucking air.  Sophie is meticulous and through elimination found the whole.  With some excellent work was able to make the repair without any issues.  This has to be done quickly as the blood on the other side of the lack could coagulate and cause a blockage.  If this happened then I would have to go back and get a new  PICC inserted.  Thankfully Sophie saved the day. 

It is a beautiful sunny day this afternoon and I'm looking out to the Dandenongs.

I forgot to add that PICC means I now have to come back every week and get the dressing changed.  It also means I can't get it wet at all or I have to come back also.  It is going to be a fun 15 weeks ahead.  Lucky I decided not to start practicing for that long distance swimming thing.  HaHa.