Hey!

My Hohn that backed out.

    This post is way overdue!  I'm going to try my best to fill you in... SO, I made it 4 months after my Hohn placement without any blood clots.  My body somehow detached itself from the cuff on the Hohn and the line began backing out.


  On Tuesday (July 18th) I went in to have it exchanged and, due to the wire coming out of the placement, ended up having to have a completely new site made......which was a nightmare (I'm allergic to all local anesthetics) that I NEVER want to repeat!!  Let's just say they WILL be doing anesthesia for new Hohn placements from here on out!  So, moving on... the pain only worsened for several days and I couldn't turn my head, my neck was quite swollen, and I thought I had a blood clot.  Well, on Friday (July 21st) I ended up going back to get it checked out and there was indeed a clot.  It was small and at the site and the radiology PA felt that it was probably caused by inflammation in the vessel due to the trauma of the placement and was hopeful that it would dissolve.  I began warm compresses, rest, and lots of prayer just really hoping it wouldn't grow.  On Monday evening (July 24th) it suddenly began rapidly improving.  Swelling went down, I could move my neck, and I even got to sleep on my right side!  I went to bed rejoicing in all the improvements.  Little did I know that Tuesday morning (July 25th) would be like it was.

Drainage on my Hohn dressing.

Chillin' in the hospital with my Ezra.

I woke up feeling completely miserable and just knew I had a fever.  Well, I was right...my temp was 100.9 which is quite high for me (I'm usually "hypothermic" ;)).  I wasn't quite sure what it was stemming from, but was quite concerned for my line which had been draining for a couple days.  My temp got up to 102.0.  We called my hematologist who takes care of my line to see what we should do.  He initially wasn't too concerned and thought maybe I had a cold but decided, since I couldn't get in with my PCP, that he would see me. The game changed when he actually saw things.  He checked me out and knew I didn't have a cold.  They took the bandage off and he knew it was most likely stemming from a line infection.  They drew blood cultures and admitted me to the hospital for antibiotics.  My cultures came back positive for a staph infection.

Pick a line, any line!  Before my Hohn
was removed...IV, Midline, and Hohn.

My neck after the Hohn was removed.

This resulted in having to have a midline and IV placed and

Thrilled after finally getting
a shower.

my Hohn removed and cultured.  That culture has also come back positive for staph so that confirmed that the infection came from the line.  With me having a blood clot, the infectious disease (ID) doctor said I would have to have 4-6 weeks of antibiotics because the clot could also be infected, but they did a repeat ultrasound over the weekend, and the clot has dissolved, so that could work in my favor.  ID said this morning that I may only need 2 weeks of antibiotics instead of 4-6 weeks since the clot is gone, but I won't know her decision for sure until tomorrow.  I had repeat blood cultures done the day before my line was removed and they're pretty sure they will be coming back negative, but they did another set today to make sure they didn't release more bacteria when removing the line.  If all is clear, I will (Lord willing) be getting a new line tomorrow.  If those cultures come back positive before morning, the procedure will be postponed until I'm clear of infections for 72hrs.  If all goes as planned, I should have a new line placed under anesthesia tomorrow!  I'm unsure if I will have to stay inpatient for the remainder of my antibiotics or if they'll be able to work it out to where I can go home.

My sweet snuggle bug. :)

It's all a work in progress and I'll try to keep you updated.
Allison