Wired up

I’m all wired up. It took the best part of a couple of hours to do, but it’s done.

First it was explained to me what the procedure was & she showed me a PICC line.

I was told to lie on my back with my arm outstretched. She then put on some gel & used ultrasound to locate a vein. She explained the difference in appearance between a vein & an artery. Both are dark circles. However, when pressure is applied one pulsates, the other does not. The former is the artery, the latter the vein. She marked the vein with an ink cross. She also measured the distance from the cross to the knob on the far side of my neck. That gives her the distance to the heart. The aim is to get the line to just reach the heart but not enter it.

My arm was then cleaned & she gowned up. First was the anaesthetic. Then she made a small incision through which the line was fed. When she thought she’d put in enough line, she put a temporary dressing on & sent me off to X-ray to make sure it was placed correctly. Soon after I got back to Oncology, the X-ray came through & the doctor agreed it was good. They then put on a more permanent dressing, removed some blood for pre-treatment testing & all was done.

Since then I have felt rather nervous about the line. The entry point is on the inside of my arm so it’s not getting in my way too much. However, that does not stop me being nervous, particularly undressing & going to bed. At first I tried sleeping on my back but after a while my shoulder blade was hurting so much (due to the tumour) I just had to lie on my side. It was with some relief that when I woke up this morning I discovered the dressing was no more bloodied than it was when I went to be last night.

I was given a PICC passport which tells me what to do in the event of any problems. One of the first things I discovered I was to do some exercise but not a heavy work-out as in a gym. I couldn’t help thinking I use my arms regularly for heavy exercise – just pushing myself around, pushing/pulling myself up.  However, I did ask at the hospital & they reckoned I should be okay to continue to do that. Indeed some exercise with that arm is important to avoid the possibility of a thrombosis.

So now I’m all set for Monday. I gather my PICC line is cleaned & a new dressing put on each time I go for treatment.

At least that much is done. On the whole I would say it was less traumatic than weekly insertion of a cannula would have been. It may have taken a while to do but at least it’s just one minor op rather than weekly needles & all the traumas that could bring, for me & the nurses.