Home! 7/12

Home! I got out on Tuesday. Getting around pretty well. Had an SCCA appt the day after I got home to get a dressing change on the PICC line. Sounds simple enough right? Not anymore. The blinatuzomab line needs to run continuously and it also has extension cables so I can access it myself to change out the bag.  Changing the dressing with the blin running wasn’t the issue, it was what to do with the extension cables, which get changed out with the dressing change typically. I had had the teaching on the day before, but I don’t know, I blame it on the fever, I kept drawing a blank on what to do with the extension cable once I was in the chair getting the line changed. The nurse was trying to figure out what to do too, and we both sat there and brainstormed.  It’s a bit complicated to explain without a drawing, but basically we were wondering how to prime the new extender line after the blin bag has been started. After some back-and-forth, we ended up waiting on doing anything with the extension lines, which was the right call, cause doing something would have meant missing ½ day of medicine, maybe more.

I write about this episode just to give an example of how the stakes are just a little higher, the requirement of my attention greater,  and things all-around, a tad more complicated. I’m sure it will all feel natural here in a little bit. I’m still waiting for the feeling of needing to reach for an IV pole to go away.

Oh, then I decided to take a shower once I got home.  This was a new experience with the entender lines too.  I’ve been taking showers in the hospital no problem--but I didn’t have the extenders bc the nurses were accessing my lines so I didn’t need extenders. The extender take up precious space in my PICC shower sleeve.  And remember, I have to stay connected while I shower, so some line is going out of the sleeve and to the pumpbag. But this part of the line is tiny in diameter and its fine.  But the extenders are fatter tubing, and I noticed a few times a bit popping out the top. I tucked it back in and didn’t think much of it. However, unbeknownst to me, water was slipping into the sleeve for these parts of the shower. I got out. Took off my sleeve and my brand-new dressing was completely soaked.  Protocol for soaked dressing is immediate replacement. I can’t do these myself, so back to the SCCA I went. I was glad this happened before the SCCA closed, I dunno what I woulda done. The longer a wet dressing stays on the greater chance of infection at the site. So a longer day than I had expected and I was left with 2 feeling-questions: can I catch a break? And am I really ready for this?


From dressing change #2 til now, it’s been uneventful, thankfully. One interesting adventure was participating in the official Walk-through of one of the town houses across the street. Interesting, neither Bree nor myself could put a face on who was leaving. And they were leaving because they want to get to burbs with their new baby! How did a baby slip our attention?  I guess that’s neighborhood living in Seattle now-a-days… A fun part of being in there was looking back at our house… See what they see. And might have seen why the previous owners never opened the blinds. Our house looked bold and imposing. And heavy for the slope. I grew worried for it--that it would continue sliding. The picture doesn’t really do it justice. We told the real-estate agent that we are painting it this summer. (We’re also going to address the front deck/slope slide issue).

View from staged townhouse across the street

When I in hospital, Peggy painted our wall this beautiful blue!