A (Rambling) Update (with Pictures)

Getting the PICC in.

In the hospital.

My antibiotic (full).

Antibiotic-shrinking.

Antibiotic- and shrinking.

Antibiotic-all done.

My view of the hallway.

The PICC.

The pretty wall in the room in the ER I was in for 20 minutes.

After 11 hours in the ER. (Someone giving me a test said "you look like you've already been through a lot tonight"...Yes I had.)

I had a gorgeous PICC line put in my left arm on Tuesday after they tried to put it in the right arm, the vein started spasming and they had to take it out and try it in the left arm a few hours later.

By Thursday I had really bad chest pain in the right side of my chest that continued to get worse with every dose of antibiotics. (Which was once over an hour every 24 hours.) I spent the day at the doctor (from 10:30am to 4pm) seeing the doctor and getting an ultrasound to make sure there was no blood clot. The results came out normal so they gave me a shot of Toradal for the pain and sent me home.

The pain continued so Friday morning I called in to the doctor that originally ordered the PICC line (the infectious disease doctor) and he said to go to the ER on a non-emergency visit to get a CT scan to just make sure that there was nothing else going on.

Because the pain was on the opposite side of where the PICC is and is on the side where they'd tried, it was unknown if something was damaged or bruised in the process or if the tip of the PICC was in the wrong place.

I went into the ER at 4 and was in a room by 4:45 because they had to decide if I should take my 4:30 dose of my antibiotic or not. (Which I ended up doing but not until around midnight.)

After a quick EKG I was stuck on a bed in the hallway (which is where I stayed for the next 9 hours). During that time I had a video x-ray with contrast dye (to make sure the PICC wasn't leaking), a chest x-ray (to make sure it was in the right place), and a chest CT scan with more dye.

Each time they used the PICC line the pain got worse and worse. I finally was given pain meds (Morphine, Toradal and Phenergan shots) at midnight.

At midnight they decided to stop using the PICC (on my left arm) and put in an IV in my right arm (so I couldn't lean in either direction). That's when I had the CT scan done.

From 1-3:00am I was put in another room where I stayed until they knew the results of the CT.

I also have to add that I've never been in the ER where more people were throwing up. Constantly!! Not a good thing for someone with a severe phobia of throwing up...I had my ears plugged listening to my iPod and my eyes at the wall the ENTIRE time!! I am SO glad the battery lasted the entire time!!

(Any suggestions of calming music are welcomed! I listened to the same CD on repeat the whole time.)

I got home at 3:30am with a bottle of Percocet and a strong want to lay in my own bed.

Today I woke up at noon and had a rash from head to toe, a droopy eyelid and the lack of ability to see straight. It's gotten worse all day (Benadryl not helping at all) and towards the end of the day waves of intense nausea came on. I did get a couple hours of sleep in the middle of the day though.

I'm relaxing in bed now, trying not to worry about all the homework I still need to do and hoping that there isn't another trip to the ER on the horizon (neither tonight or anytime soon).

Ugg, an all day doctor visit, an 11 hour ER trip, and lots of pain=a long, not so fun weekend.

I did get my necklace from Self Symmetry that I got a huge discount on thanks to Amy's giveaway, yesterday which was wonderful to see in the mail! It's beautiful =].

Hoping tomorrow will be wonderful,