My TMI Goal for 2023 And Fun with PICC Lines
Spoiler alert all my blogs with TMI in the title have too much information about my Crohn's illness. So don't read further if you don't want to hear about it.
Make the hard things more accessible.
A goal to not spend any time in the hospital in 2023
It occurred to me in May that I am doing pretty well. Knock on wood. So I set a goal to stay out of the hospital for the rest of the year. I am halfway to my goal of not eating hospital food in 2023. To that end, I have picked up a giant half-gallon water jug to help me track my water-drinking goal better. Unfortunately, I don't absorb enough fluids, and at the same time, I lose too much juice due to my Crohn's disease. To do my part, I am a person who drinks a gallon of water a day.
Regarding fluids, I am a bucket with a hole at the bottom.
I only have to fill this new jug twice daily to know I have had my gallon of electrolytes. Also, I discovered that if I have one of these jugs by 10 am, I am more likely to have a productive day. Drinking enough water is hard, but the new habit is easier than tracking six or eight smaller bottles when it's only two containers.
New Rig
Last Friday, I had a PICC line "installed" in my arm. It was fast. From the time I laid down to sitting back up was about 15 minutes. I timed it. After the procedure, I went down to X-ray and had a picture taken to confirm the line went where it was supposed to end. Here is what that means from the interwebs.
Peripherally inserted central catheter
The peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC). A PICC is a thin, flexible tube that is inserted into a vein in the upper arm and guided (threaded) into a large vein above the right side of the heart called the superior vena cava. It gives intravenous fluids and other drugs. Mine has two ports; my nurse tells me one is bigger than the other for blood. But for my purposes, I flush them both daily and trade off my IV fluids from one to the other in turns. I get bonus fluids by IVweekly. Simple IV fluids, no drugs. As the years have passed, getting a needle in my arm is harder and harder. So I am going on an eight-week PICC line treatment.
What Fer?
My lack of juiciness is hard on my organs. So, in addition to drinking a gallon of fluids a day, I also get some IV help. My kidneys are struggling with borderline kidney disease. Also, the fatigue and dizziness take a bite out of my day. I am supposed to try some new treatment to slow down my fluid loss. Hopefully, this will allow me to go off iv fluids this summer.
As I said, it did not hurt to have the line put in. The IV nurse used an ultrasound wand to guide the line in and followed up with an X-ray. I did bleed a bunch the first hour after the installation but nothing since. Nurse Nora, my home care provider, will come once a week to change the transparent dressing. I have all the gear to plug my IV lines into the picc. There are no additional needles. Everything twists on and off super easily. I can exercise and move around with no worries. I walk the dog and do light exercises as normal. A webbed sleeve slides up my arm and holds the picc lines and extensions tight against my arm. The first few days, I noticed the dressing area felt pinched, but four days in, I hardly noticed the rig at all.