Day 2 Friday PICC Line

It’s now 12.24am on night one, the sensible, no fuss lady I am sharing with has been asleep for a while and she doesn’t even snore, so how can I complain about sharing a room with her? Update: it’s 12.30 and she is snoring.

I can’t believe what the Valium does, it takes my stress away, I’m not spaced out or anything I just feel calmer and less stressed, amazing. I sleep a little but by 2am I’m up again and that’s the real concern about a shared room, you don’t want to upset the neighbour on the other side of the curtain, it’s so absurdly close to be living next door to a stranger.

I go out to the nurse’s station, they suggest they could give me Panadiene Forte. However I am not interested in their offer of Panadiene Forte, I am not in pain, I just can’t sleep so I say no thanks.  They then suggest Endone (oxycodone hydrochloride) while I am thinking over whether this will help me (as I usually find it useless) they explain its properties to me so I decide if it will help me sleep I will take one.

I sit on the couch in the common area on my laptop and the internet until 4.30am and then go to bed, I doze on and off until 6.30am (I am so grateful for my neighbours lack of snoring). I am woken up at 6.30am to check my blood pressure which I think is ridiculous as I am not ill, only to be told it’s too low!

I get up, shower, get dressed and put on make-up, I am determined to be dressed and be me every day, I am not ill.

The manager promises me a private room today, this makes all the difference - I can do this if I have my own space.

In the afternoon I am taken by wheelchair (weird) to the radiology to have the PICC line inserted - it is used to give medication directly into the blood stream. My right arm is disinfected and prepared for the line. I would have preferred my left as I need my right as it is my dominant arm and the use of my left arm is restricted because of the accident, but the right it is. The vein is found and marked by ultrasound and I am given a local anesthetic injection in the site just above my elbow on the inside. 

The injection is quite painful and I do bring my knees up, curl my toes and make some ouch noises, then the pain is over and the line (a smallish tube) goes into my arm. I was told I wouldn’t feel anything but when it reaches the front of my neck I certainly felt a gulp as it went around the corner to my chest. However it wasn’t painful and true to their word I couldn’t feel it afterwards.

Not long after that I was moved to my private room. It’s amazing, there is space and I can keep my door shut and pretend it’s a hotel room. I can unpack my suitcase, fill the drawers and the cupboard plus leave my personal things out in the bathroom. Sharing sucks. I am so excited you would think I was checking into a penthouse suite on a world cruise. I can do this now!

My room is so quiet, I can’t hear the constant dinging of the patient’s buzzers, nor do I need to answer phone calls in a whisper and leave the room for fear of disturbing my unknown roommate. Now and then the nurses ask me whether I need anything for pain, I tell them I am fine, but I don’t let on that I have my own medication so am managing it myself.

The PICC line is more painful than I expected, it’s not horrible, but it’s not comfortable. Nick arrives after work and we go out to the local shopping plaza and then to a restaurant for dinner. When I get back I try to sleep, I need to sleep and finally about 11.30pm go to sleep.