I am HOME!!!!

[Guest guest]

Hi Everyone!!!

I am HOME!!! I got home Friday evening, and it feels so goood sleeping in

my own bed with my own blankies and such.

They did my PICC line at bedside. It wasn't that bad. I think alot of being

scared was due to the anticipation of the surgery. The IR doctor that

placed my PICC line was great. He was very kind, caring and considerate.

And I was happy and relieved about that.

It did hurt, and they did numb the area where they were putting the line

in, but it actually hurt more about 5 hours later than it did while they

were doing the procedure.

I got absolutely NO sleep while in the hospital. Doctors and nurses coming

in all hours of the night, taking vitals, drawing blood(to make sure that

my electrolytes stay balanced with the added TPN), blood pressure, heart

rate, sat rates, temperature, listened to my heart and lungs, etc....

The worse part of it all was that this stupid Intern came into the room at

1:00am to see my room mate and to let her know that he was going to do a

lumbar puncture on her. Poor lady was in her late 80's or maybe in her

90's. So he did her LP at bedside and the poor little old lady was crying

and asking the doctor to please stop, please stop. And she kept saying " Oh

God make them stop " It was the saddest thing. I was so upset for her and

the pain she was going through that I was crying. I didn't get any sleep

that night. |-O

I noticed that these interns do these procedures late in the night when

there are NO family members around to stop them or to advocate for their

family members. And I believe they do this especially with the elderly b/c

it is easier for them to talk them into procedures. This is the way these

interns get their " Hands on Training " aarrgghhh!!!!

All in all things are going well. I am learning how to hook myself up,

flush out my lines, and getting used to the mini pump.

Malisa has been in the hospital for 2 weeks now. She was happy to see me.

She said she is sooo bored and was happy that I was there to at least spend

a few days with her and break up the boredom. We had a lot of fun together,

and got into some trouble, but that is another story for another time.

I want to thank everyone who wrote me emails, prayed for me and kept me in

their thoughts. Thank you to those of you who took the time to call me at

the hospital to check up on me and to see how the PICC line placement went.

It was so kind of you and meant the world to me. It is so nice to have such

great friends.

The worse part of this right now is learning how NOT to step on the line

which in turn tugs on the line which is surgically placed in my upper arm.

And when I do step on the line or forget just how far I can walk without

pulling it, well, it hurts!!

Love and Hugs,

Ann-Marie

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