Friday, March 31, 2017
Friday, March 24, 2017
Thursday, March 23, 2017
Allison's PICC line is out further today than it was Tuesday. (The nurse was here this morning to change the dressing.) The pain is spreading as well which would indicate that the clot is growing. We will be leaving soon to have the PICC line changed. They think her PICC line is in the shipment for today, but if not, they will use the one made from the material they used previously. (That they think she reacted to.) As the nurse said, we're in a bit of a pickle. But we know the Lord is in control. His way is perfect.
Wednesday, March 22, 2017
The Adventures Of Life Continue!
Hi Friends!
I came home from the hospital Sunday afternoon on my regular blood thinner. The pain is decreased from what it had been in the beginning, however it is definitely still here! Yesterday morning, one of my PICC stitches came out AGAIN. We had appointments with our local hematologist so I decided to just mention it to him and see if they had the supplies to go ahead and restitch it (I have to use specific stitches). They didn't, but they arranged for me to go straight to the hospital to have it done. Sometime in the 10 minutes between that time and the time we arrived at the hospital, my PICC decided to back out a ways. Rrrrr! They would've gone ahead and changed it out except they didn't have a PICC in stock for me because I have to have a specific line. They had already ordered it but it hasn't arrived. SO, they stitched it down good in hopes that it won't back out any farther and we are currently waiting on a new PICC to come in so we can get this one switched out. This waiting time has a risk of causing the blood clot to grow because the line is backed out and when it is changed out there is a risk of the clot breaking off and traveling to my lungs. So yep, I'm one big risk right now! ;)
Anyways, my appointment with my hematologist went really well! I've been having chronically low iron and hemoglobin (mild/non-emergent)...this could be either due to me slowly bleeding somewhere inside or not absorbing iron very well. I have an endoscopy and colonoscopy scheduled on April 24th to check and make sure I don't have an ulcer or any bleeding. Leave it to me to have a clotting and bleeding problem at the same time! ;) We want to rule that out because if there is something that needs fixed in there, we want to know and fix it before it gets more severe! If it isn't that then we can focus on the nutrition aspect of things to try to get some iron in me. But we want to KNOW whether or not its just a nutrition thing and not just guess! Hopefully sometime between getting this PICC and clot stuff straightened out and the EGD/colonoscopy I will be trying vitamin D. That has greatly helped my sister so I'm hoping it'll help me a lot, too! :)
Taking Life One PICC Line "Catastrophe" at a Time,
Allison
I came home from the hospital Sunday afternoon on my regular blood thinner. The pain is decreased from what it had been in the beginning, however it is definitely still here! Yesterday morning, one of my PICC stitches came out AGAIN. We had appointments with our local hematologist so I decided to just mention it to him and see if they had the supplies to go ahead and restitch it (I have to use specific stitches). They didn't, but they arranged for me to go straight to the hospital to have it done. Sometime in the 10 minutes between that time and the time we arrived at the hospital, my PICC decided to back out a ways. Rrrrr! They would've gone ahead and changed it out except they didn't have a PICC in stock for me because I have to have a specific line. They had already ordered it but it hasn't arrived. SO, they stitched it down good in hopes that it won't back out any farther and we are currently waiting on a new PICC to come in so we can get this one switched out. This waiting time has a risk of causing the blood clot to grow because the line is backed out and when it is changed out there is a risk of the clot breaking off and traveling to my lungs. So yep, I'm one big risk right now! ;)
Anyways, my appointment with my hematologist went really well! I've been having chronically low iron and hemoglobin (mild/non-emergent)...this could be either due to me slowly bleeding somewhere inside or not absorbing iron very well. I have an endoscopy and colonoscopy scheduled on April 24th to check and make sure I don't have an ulcer or any bleeding. Leave it to me to have a clotting and bleeding problem at the same time! ;) We want to rule that out because if there is something that needs fixed in there, we want to know and fix it before it gets more severe! If it isn't that then we can focus on the nutrition aspect of things to try to get some iron in me. But we want to KNOW whether or not its just a nutrition thing and not just guess! Hopefully sometime between getting this PICC and clot stuff straightened out and the EGD/colonoscopy I will be trying vitamin D. That has greatly helped my sister so I'm hoping it'll help me a lot, too! :)
Taking Life One PICC Line "Catastrophe" at a Time,
Allison
Sunday, March 19, 2017
The Many Adventures Of Life...
Hi!
I know it has been a while since I've posted. We obviously made it home from Minnesota. I actually haven't had a whole lot of things happening lately. I recently started home occupational therapy to help reduce the damage I've had in my right arm from all the previous DVTs (Deep Vein Thrombosis/blood clot). I'm hoping it helps!
I've had some issues with my PICC line stitches coming out recently - I just had to keep going back to get them redone and all was well.....Until Monday that is. Late Monday morning, one of my stitches came out along with quite a bit of my PICC line. By Monday night my arm was hurting pretty bad. I and everyone else just chalked it up to the position of the partially misplaced PICC line. They switched out my PICC on Tuesday, but the pain ended up just increasing. SO, I decided that I needed to get it checked out since we were headed into the weekend and I certainly did NOT want to end up in the ER (aka "flu trap")! The radiology department at the hospital said the PICC replacement itself shouldn't have caused that much pain and wanted to check it out to make sure everything was okay. All that said, it wasn't. I'm currently, as of yesterday evening, in the hospital on a heparin drip because they did an ultrasound that showed an extensive DVT in my left arm from my elbow to my shoulder and headed into my chest. They were wanting to start dissolving the clot so they don't have to remove this PICC. If it has to be removed the radiology PA said they'll have to start putting PICCs in my neck. Yeah, no one wants that!! They're talking about me possibly being discharged tomorrow on my regular blood thinner if they like how everything looks in the morning. I'm still in quite a bit of pain, but it does seem a bit better when I'm sitting still. I'm very thankful I'm able to tolerate the heparin without a reaction! AND I'm thankful the hospital room has a DVD player.....movies are occupying most of my time. :) Seriously, what do you do while trapped in the Medical Inn & Suites and tied to a pole??!
This beautiful song really encourages me and reminds me that the Lord is in control and will never leave me. What an amazing thought!
Taking Life Without Any More Blood Clots (HOPEFULLY!!!),
Allison
I know it has been a while since I've posted. We obviously made it home from Minnesota. I actually haven't had a whole lot of things happening lately. I recently started home occupational therapy to help reduce the damage I've had in my right arm from all the previous DVTs (Deep Vein Thrombosis/blood clot). I'm hoping it helps!
I've had some issues with my PICC line stitches coming out recently - I just had to keep going back to get them redone and all was well.....Until Monday that is. Late Monday morning, one of my stitches came out along with quite a bit of my PICC line. By Monday night my arm was hurting pretty bad. I and everyone else just chalked it up to the position of the partially misplaced PICC line. They switched out my PICC on Tuesday, but the pain ended up just increasing. SO, I decided that I needed to get it checked out since we were headed into the weekend and I certainly did NOT want to end up in the ER (aka "flu trap")! The radiology department at the hospital said the PICC replacement itself shouldn't have caused that much pain and wanted to check it out to make sure everything was okay. All that said, it wasn't. I'm currently, as of yesterday evening, in the hospital on a heparin drip because they did an ultrasound that showed an extensive DVT in my left arm from my elbow to my shoulder and headed into my chest. They were wanting to start dissolving the clot so they don't have to remove this PICC. If it has to be removed the radiology PA said they'll have to start putting PICCs in my neck. Yeah, no one wants that!! They're talking about me possibly being discharged tomorrow on my regular blood thinner if they like how everything looks in the morning. I'm still in quite a bit of pain, but it does seem a bit better when I'm sitting still. I'm very thankful I'm able to tolerate the heparin without a reaction! AND I'm thankful the hospital room has a DVD player.....movies are occupying most of my time. :) Seriously, what do you do while trapped in the Medical Inn & Suites and tied to a pole??!Taking Life Without Any More Blood Clots (HOPEFULLY!!!),
Allison
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