Update - Tuesday - MD

[Guest guest]

Hi all. Another update. It was not a very good day today so please

excuse my typos. I'm tired and have about 8 holes in my arms.

The apheresis started this morning at 8:30. They had some initial

problems getting the lines in my arms but after trying about three

times, the lines were in and the apheresis started. Since it was

in both my arms I was immobile and had to depend on Larry to even

scratch my nose! All was going well until I noticed some pain in my

upper left arm and shoulder. I didn 't think much of it until,

about 10 minutes later, it got severe. At that point, I asked Larry

to get Dr. Korbling or the nurse. Gladys - my nurse for the day -

came over to check me and asked me how long I had been feeling the

pain and I told her it was about 10 minutes. Unfortunately, I had

a complication called 'infiltration' and the blood from my vein was

bleeding out into my upper arm and muscle tissues and had swollen

considerably (and are now hard as a rock and sore). The machine

was immediately shut down and the catheter removed from that

arm. I started to get a bit anxious knowing I'd have to be stuck

again with another 2 1/2 - 3 " needle. Gladys tried to reinsert

the line into my hand several times but it was a no go. They then

called up the " IV infusion team " who are experts in finding veins.

They came up about up an hour later and attempted to reinsert the

needles again. They finally got the line reinserted and slowly

started the machine up again to see if all was clear.

Unfortunately, my wrist started to swell indicating that again my

vein was compomised and the blood was seeping into my arm. I hate

to admit this but at that point, I had a melt down and was ready to

call the entire process off. This was not working out how I

envisioned it!

The head nurse (Sarj - who has warmed up and turned out to be a gem)

came over and told me that they needed to go to 'Plan B' and I would

have a catheter inserted - either in my leg or chest. As you can

imagine, this didn't sit too well with me but what choice did I have

since I was here and 'ready to go'. I was scheduled for surgery

at 1 PM (they fit me in and were very accommodating). I asked for

conscious sedation (the kind they give you when they do a

colonoscopy) but apparently that has to be arranged far in advance.

So I had to be awake for it - which turned out to be fine.

Fortunately they took pity on me and gave me a good dose of versette

(sp) and it took the edge off the anxiety. A surgeon came in and

determined the line would go in my chest. He did a good job getting

it in with minimal pain and talked me through the entire procedure

so it worked out fine. After that, I was sent to x-ray so they

could see if the line was sitting correctly. By this time, the

Versette (which apparently does something with your memory) REALLY

kicked in. I kept telling Larry that they had to take me to x-ray

as he patiently explained that it had been done already. This is

a good one . . . I got very indignant when I realized that I had

my bra and t-shirt back on and figured that some one must have

dressed me. I was quite upset until Larry insisted that he watched

me dress myself and no one compromised my 'dignity' : - )! I

didn't remember any of this! So it must have been a good sedative!

We then went upstairs and the apheresis was started with much more

ease and I was much more comfortable with the port in my chest.

The only feeling I had was extreme cold - which the nurse explained

comes from the blood being filtered completely out of the body and

then back in. So they wrapped me in a few blankets and I was able

to get some shut eye.

While today was a frustrating day - I think I am over the hump with

the worst! Hopefully it's all down hill from here! Thanks for all

your support and prayers. I truly needed them today!

I am heading to bed as of my chest and arms are very sore . . .

this will be a good excuse to make Larry carry my purse for the rest

of the week! Ha!