After a very disturbed night, the nurse came in to take my vital signs at 5:00am. I waited for the EKG to be done, but no-one came. So by 6:45am I thought a shower would be in order. After my T-shirt was removed in circus-style fashion and with the PICC line duly wrapped up, I proceeded to the bathroom.
Whilst I was sitting on the ‘throne’, Dr Burt made his rounds early, so we had to converse through the door of the bathroom. Not ideal, but it worked.
Then for a relaxing shower until I was disturbed by the EKG nurse. So I hurried out of the shower, lay on the bed and got EKGed.
With all that out of the way, I started breakfast along with some nausea medication which settled me. I completed my breakfast and followed this with a Skype call to the girls in New York and then I was set for the day
Start of business began at 10:00am with the Cytoxan. No problems here, as it ran through to lunchtime. My appetite seemed to be waning, so I opted for a chicken sandwich and some fruit.
After lunch, the nurse started the rATG and Benadryl. As drowsiness set in, I fell into a light sleep, but surprisingly woke up by 4pm.
I reached over to the other side of the bed for some water, and felt a sharp yank on my arm. Ouch!!!
I looked down, and found that I had pulled out about 8 inches of my PICC line. I knew this was not good and buzzed for the nurse immediately.
Although the nurse had seen this type of thing before, there was a look of apprehension in her face (which was something I hadn't seen before in any of the staff at NMH), and after consulting the other staff, Dr Burt was called. Dr Burt heard how much of the line had been pulled out, and he knew it would not be a job of simply pushing it back in!
So I’m now due to be back in Interventional Radiology to have the PICC line replaced. But it's a Friday night and getting a slot would be difficult. The nurses were trying to get me sorted for either 9pm tonight or early tomorrow morning.
In the meanwhile, the rATG, Mesner and saline still had to be fed, so my other arm was being perforated with IV lines while suitable veins could be found. Unfortunately, my veins kept popping and by the time the three cannulas had been inserted, six nurses had a go at my left arm. If you remember my needlephobia, it was a nightmare in motion!! Now I know what a pin cushion feels like.
Transport arrived to take me to Interventional Radiology just as my dinner arrived, and then followed a two hour wait until I was taken back into theatre. This time I watched on the x-ray screen as the end of the PICC was being threaded through my vein. It was actually quite interesting.
With the task completed, I was taken back up to room 1592 to resume my dinner.
Amy Morgan had told me on Day -6 that our goal was for ‘a bunch of really boring days until discharge’, and boy oh boy did I screw that up today!!!
Now off to bed …….
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