The Visiting Nurse...

just left. (deep sigh) Due to Crohn's Disease, short bowel syndrom and disfunctional kidneys I have chronic magnisium wasting making it necessary to infuse 4 grams of magnisium over a 6 hour period on a weekly basis. For 2 1/2 years I've been infusing thru a PICC Line when suddenly 1 year ago I developed an adhesive allergy making it nearly impossible to keep a PICC Line in my arm. I lost my last PICC in January and have had a visiting nurse coming every Sunday to start a peripheral IV. Ouch. Oh ouch, ouch, ouch. (deep sigh) I am what is called a "terrible stick". My poor old veins are tiny, wiggly, crooked, fragile and just plain unruly. They run and hide every time someone needs to stick me. Only dear Lois (favorite visiting nurse) is able to get me with one stick or sometimes two. Today it was three sticks before we got in and not in an ideal location. The VN finally had to use what they call The Interns Vein because it's big and pretty sturdy and what they train interns on but oh so, so painful. It's located on the inside of wrist, just above the joint making it painful to use that hand. I've been waiting now for 7 weeks for a Port-A-Cath. A PAC is a bladder that is surgically inserted under the skin on the chest with no external tubes hanging out. The line runs up the juglar vein and down to just short of the heart. When it's time to infuse you sterilize and numb the skin over the PAC, slap on a face mask and then insert a needle, bent at a 45 degree angle, thru the skin and into the bladder, hook up the lines, start the infusion and go to bed. No fuss, no muss, easy peasy. I hope. I will be so grateful to have my life back again. With a PICC you can't swim, can't kyack, can't sit in a hot tub (like there's anyone to sit with) must cover and tape the thing up every time you shower, untape and dismantle the protective covering when done showering, flush, pull a sock over it, blah, blah, blah. You can't hide it in the summer, it's always peeking out the sleeve of your T-shirt and people look at you funny. I tent camp a lot during the summer and must use public shower facilities at the camp grounds and have scared the hell out of little kids more than a couple of times when trying to "tape up" before I shower. It's also not the most sterile environment to infuse at, the camp ground. So.... I will be grateful when the PAC is finally implanted.