It's Back .... and .... It's Gone!

What's Back?  -  the chilling, trembling, fever, vomiting, etc.

Terry went to bed Sunday evening feeling pretty good except for the aches and pains that seemed to be worsening, but by 11:15 he was beginning to chill and the chilling kept increasing, bringing with it all of the other terrible symptoms.  I started heating blankets for him - trying to keep a warm blanket on him at all times.  I don't remember what time it was when I was able to get back in bed for the night because it was over, but I know it wasn't really over because I could still hear his breathing was not normal and I could feel that he was still trembling some, even though he didn't need the blankets anymore.  I think that it all seemed to go away and things seemed more normal around 2:30am.   

We contacted the doctor Monday and got a call that evening to tell us of a scheduled appointment to have the Hickman line removed the following Monday.  That didn't seem too acceptable because he'd have to go thru this everyday for 7 more days.  We have noticed that this attack takes place a few hours after we flush his lines, and we have to do that everyday.  Once it starts it just keeps going.
That just can't happen. 
So we did the next best suggested thing.

What's Gone? - the Hickman Line has been removed.

Doctor Smith told us after the last round of problems got cleared up that if it happened again the line would need pulled because we would know that the line is what is causing it.  So, Bye-Bye Hickman Line!
We went to the Central Washington Hospital Emergency Room, arriving there about 9:20am, and asked for a doctor McCourtie, as instructed.  There was much confusion because ..., well, that's a long and hard to explain story ..., there just was!  We finally got admitted and met with this doctor, who has an awesome accent (he's from England) and a kind personality to match it.  We like this guy - he is a surgeon, and if we ever need a surgeon again we might request him (though we aren't really sure what his specialty is).  He had read Terry's file and was aware of his past and even some of the future medical concerns and was very pleasant to work with.  Dr. McCourtie requested a CBC to check the platelets level because they had to be over 50 to pull the line or he could do some major bleeding. 

Well, platelets today were 29 - quite common for Terry lately, so he was given a platelets infusion.  Alas, it was time to pull the line.

FYI - here is an idea of how the Hickman Line is attached in the body.  What you cannot see is where the line is attached inside.  I remember the doctor who inserted it (Dr. Petty) telling me that it was attached at the top (#1 area on the diagram), but do not remember anywhere else, but Dr. McCourtie suggested it could be attached in other places (between #1 and #2) as well.  So, this tug has got to be hard enough to effectively remove it from these attached areas.  They are apparently attached with some sort of "cotton" type something or other. (Informative huh!)



Doctor numbed the area and pulled the line out.  Yip, he tugged and pulled on the line from the place it comes out (#3 on the diagram above) until it was all out, putting pressure on the wounded areas of Terry's chest and neck (#1 and #3 areas in the diagram above).  Doctor said that it was evident that there was infection because a line that has been in that long (3 1/2 years) wouldn't have come out as nicely as it did.  ("Nicely" doesn't mean that it was easy and that it didn't hurt, but it wasn't as complicated as it could have been for that amount of time.)  They sent part of the line away for testing. (I wonder why they don't send the whole thing?)

So now, Terry sports a bandage on the hole left behind in his chest (area #3).  It should close up in a few days. 

Oh, there is more to the story though -
Terry was placed in a position with his head lowered than the rest of his body while the line was being pulled.  When he was raised again it caused some terrible pain in his chest - the worst kind of heartburn he has ever felt in his chest and back.  It didn't subside so they gave him some medication to help.  They had the heart monitor going and gave him some oxygen hoping to help.  He did begin to feel better. 

But no, we were still not done.  I started to notice areas with a red rash and raised spots on his body, much like a large mosquito bite on a reddened area of skin.  Oh No!  This was a reaction to the platelets infusion.  Luckily they can do something about that, so in comes the dose of Benadryl to stop that reaction.

Well, now we were ready to leave - we think it might have been about 1:45.   A LONG DAY!

We had some lunch at the clinic bistro while waiting for some prescriptions to be filled, and made a couple grocery (mostly for fresh fruits for smoothies) and gas stops and were on our way home.

Terry is taking Levofloxacin again now to help with the infection so we hope these episodes are over - really over. 

The other prescription we had filled was for BJo who was home alone most of the day, but did fine.  Other than being somewhat bored, she is doing well.  We are apologizing with the fresh fruits for smoothies or slushies or whatever they are called.  ... insert smile here ...

Hopefully we are all on the mend now.   But I'd better go make dinner and a smoothie/slushie!
May your day be merry and bright!  (oops!  I think so much has been going on here that it should be Christmas already.)

Have a good day!  If you want or can!  :)