Well to be honest today wasn't all about fun and games. After lunch our nurse was hooking up Chelsea's benedryl and noticed a tiny bit of water when she flushed her line, yep, Chelsea had ANOTHER hole in her Hickman. Remember, she had a hole the day before we left from the last round. Well this was the third repair today, and it was actually a repair of a repair. The IV therapists aren't sure how much more they trust her Hickman, since it's made up of different pieces of repaired tubing. They're talking about just taking this one out and completely replacing it sometime soon. More on that later, for now she just has to get through the next few days of chemo with the line she has in. Just in case you were curious, I documented them repairing her line with photos as always!
Chelsea with her line all clamped up for protection awaiting repair.
Creating a sterile environment, it's like surgery except it's not in the OR and it's not on a person, it's on a tube!
They have to clean the area for 6 minutes!
Somehow I missed taking a pic of her cutting the line, but you can see there's a line where the old and the new tubing meet. Here, she is putting some high powered glue, to bond the two tubes together. Then there's a little clear plastic casing that will go over that spot, and she'll push more super glue into the area.
And voila! A new Hickman! They had to wait 4 hours to use it, so after the four hours they drew blood cultures from the line to make sure no infection is growing from it being exposed with the hole. The hole was tiny the nurse said. We're not sure how she managed a hole in the white side b/c the side that the chemo is running in non stop is the red side. That's the side that's constantly stretching when she pulls on it or runs away from me too quickly. I was worried she may have bit the hole in the white side since I have caught her with that tubing in her mouth. That could open it up for all kind of bad infections, so we're praying she didn't do this. Evidently bacteria in your mouth, and central lines, don't mix well. It could be VERY VERY dangerous she told me.
Hello world!
3 years ago
1 comment:
Darn it!!! Those silly tubes and energetic kids don't mix well I guess!! I guess someone forgot to tell Chelsea that she's got cancer and she should be mellow? I tell you what... I think I've only seen Chelsea act sick maybe 5 days out of each round. She's a trooper and she'll get through this one too!! Hang in there... both of you!
Post a Comment