Picc Line

Ta-Daaaaa!  There it is.  Was a piece of cake.  I am sooo glad I went to Cedars-Sinai to have it done.  Truly a great experience.  That hospital has the best patient service I have ever seen.  EVER.  They even called me yesterday to ask if there was anything they could have done better!  I said nope.   Everyone I spoke with from the first phone call to the Procedure Center to every registration call after that, to the cookies & OJ they gave me afterwards.

So I lucked out with who placed my PiCC & I lucked out with the RN as well.  Most lymeheads I talk to say their nurse "got in their way" or made things worse, or weren't careful or sterile or pulled on their line, etc.  Not mine!  Dalmor is one of the smartest, most interesting people I have ever met.  He is very thorough.  I am very happy to have him.

 Up until yesterday all of my infusions had been going very well.  No problems what so ever.  Just some heart palpitations, but I was warned by other rocephin IV users that that could happen.  Yesterday I felt a tightness in my throat.  And after the infusion, we drew blood through  my PiCC line.  I felt a tightness in my upper chest.  Not over my heart, but right under the front of my neck.  It was only bothersome at first, but it continued to worsen to the point of being uncomfortable.  Otherwise I was fine, I could swallow fine & breathe fine.  But if I leaned forward only slightly, I would feel an immense amount of pressure on my lower neck (throat area) and upper chest.  So I took a benedryl (just in case was allergic reaction) & went to bed a little freaked out.  Well, I stayed up & had my friends on Facebook freak me out.  Telling me I should  never have blood drawn from a PiCC.  WHAT?  I was always told I wouldn't need to get stuck anymore for blood draws.  Anywho- I won't do it again just in case.

So I called my nurse this morning.  He said that when he comes this afternoon he will change the dressing (my arm got sore 2 days after PiCC was installed).  We are going to peek under the dressings &  make sure all is fine.  I faxed a note to my doctor explaining what I was still experiencing this morning when I woke up.   He called me immediately & gave me his cell phone number to have my nurse call him when he gets here.  That made me feel good & I promise to never use it.  Unless I am dying.  Then that promise is out the window.  Ahhhhh, I love my doctor.  And have I ever mentioned that he takes my insurance?  Oh and that he listens to me?  And has zero ego (well, if he does, I haven't seen it yet).

I'll post again and let everyone know if we can get this figured out. 

PiCC time

I went to see my doc out in Malibu last Thursday.  We talked about my increasing joint pain, etc.  Decided it's time to Be Aggressive, B-E Aggressive! (If you were a cheerleader, you know).  So we are going to try at least 6 weeks of IV Rocephin.  I'll let everyone know when this is going to happen.  I want to get it done at my docs hospital Cedars-Sinai.  They really know what they are doing with PiCC lines & I am a wimp, so that's probably the best place to go.  I'm going to call my docs office today & see what's going on with that.

The day of my appointment, we decided to take our 16 year old & one of her friends with us to Malibu.  After all, my docs office is literally seconds from the ocean.  So we joined the girls at the beach.  Where we went to the beach there also happens to be a bird sanctuary.  There were hundreds of cool birds.  GIANT pelicans flew over our heads.  We made some bird friends while we were there.  There were a lot of jelly fish that had washed up on shore.  We had to be careful not to step on them  It was a lovely day.  Until we got up to leave.  My husband so kindly pointed out that the backs of my legs were FRIED!  I forgot to put sunscreen on the backs of my legs!!  I am still burned badly & it's been 4 days.  I have never burned like this in my life (well except for the time when I was going to college & I went in a bad tanning bed & ended up in bed for 3 days vomiting from sun poisoning).  Can you say PAIN?