Week From Hell

*Originally published 8/16/16*

Two Fridays ago, I woke up with some pain in my left arm where my PICC line was. As the day progressed, the pain got worse and spread to my left chest. My nurse came the following day, Saturday, to check my arm. There was no sign of infection and I didn’t show any signs of a clot, but my doctor wanted us to go to the ER just to be sure. While at the ER, they did an ultra-sound of my arm and did not find a clot. However, as the pain got worse and I was unable to lift my arm, they pulled Petunia the PICC anyway.

Sunday I enjoyed my day as a “PICC free woman” and swam in my pool all day long.

Wednesday, I went back in for my new PICC insertion. At first, it was just me and one doctor in a room where he tried 7 times to get my new PICC in, 5 on my right arm and 2 on my left.

On the very first try, he happened to find a vein, but while threading the wire through my arm, it got stuck (which hurt like a female dog) and he had to stop. Then, every other time he could not get a good vein, so I was taken down to interventional radiology for one last try. At this point, it had been over 2 hours of being stuck with needles, my arm was already swelling and I was on the verge of tears, but I needed this PICC so I sucked it up. The second I got into the procedure room, I told them that I’m allergic to rubbing alcohol and adhesive, which the other doctor already knew. As they were prepping me, one of the techs started rubbing something on my arm. When I ask what it was he said Chloraprep (which is 70% alcohol) so I let them know that I’m allergic to that (which they should have already known!!!). After that fiasco, the doctor came in and saw that my vein has a curve in it, and with one try he got the PICC, Penelope, in.

That night when I got home, I got paralyzed 3 times. Then it happened again twice on Thursday. Along with the paralysis, I had nausea and dry heaving. After the paralysis was over, everything still felt extra weak and my body was just extremely fatigued. Through this all, my chest was tight; it felt like someone was pressing on it, and breathing got a little harder.

We finally heard from my doctor on Saturday. When I explained everything to her, she said she wanted me to go back to the ER for a CT scan of my chest to check for a clot, since they only checked my arm the previous weekend. Reluctantly, my super trooper mom and I went. And it was a good thing we did because they found a small blood clot in my left lung. They started me on blood thinners and kept me overnight for observation.

Meanwhile, we heard from my home health company this week that insurance has not been covering my IV medications, and I will not be getting any more unless we can pay half each week (which is almost $900). This means I was stuck 8 times, have black and blue arms and a nasty allergic rash for nothing right now.

I still feel awful - exhausted, weak, nauseated, physically and mentally ill. All around, the last few days have been horrible, so here’s hoping for better days to come!