PICC Line, IV, And Hurricane. Oh My

Three days. Three days after getting the PICC line put in and it's not working. Not working in the sense that it's blocked so nothing can go in. To say it was frustrating and my wife wasn't in the mood for jokes is putting it mild. "Don't fiddle with it, you don't want to void the warranty." Went over about as well as telling her to relax. For some reason the word relax is like the attack command for her. Anyways, this little setback, coupled with the rather incompetent home care she got from the nurse they sent over the other day hasn't helped matters.

After a day of phone calls to try and get her supplies ordered (see above comment about incompetence) she got to make more calls today about getting this fixed. Any guesses how easy that is on the last long weekend of the summer? Yep, not very easy at all. We got someone in to check it out in the afternoon though. After trying a couple things with no success, it was time for an IV. So now she's got the PICC in her right arm and an IV in her left. If anyone asks I just tell them one is for hot and the other for cold. "And that's just the tubes you can see." The kids don't seem to put off by it all which is nice and the IV is working for the time being. She's dealing with the stress of it all as best she can but it piles up and there's only so much you can take. Add to everything her big fear lurking around the corner, going back to work next week. No matter what you do it's coming and there's no telling how bad it will be until you're into the thick of it.

That's a convenient segway into hurricane Gustav which is taking aim at the Gulf Coast. My parents spent the day boarding up their windows which proved difficult in the 95 degree weather. They're about two miles outside the mandatory evacuation area so their plan is to head out Sunday once they have a better idea which way the storm is heading. And just after Dad got a chance to try and sneak up on the first alligator that crawled up in the backyard last week. Isn't that always the way though? You finally get gators showing up for you to try catching and then you have to evacuate because of a hurricane. If I had a nickel for every time. I guess it's a good thing they have to leave for a while otherwise in the near future I'm sure I'd be writing about Dad getting bitten by a gator. Lord knows he'd get no sympathy from Mom if he did too.

I remember when I was a kid and we were living in BC. We went out in the woods to cut firewood. It was me, my sister, Mom, Dad, Dad's brother and his wife. I was like five or six. My sister and I were playing in the truck while they cut the logs. Apparently, while he's cutting a log Dad's chainsaw jumped and hit him right in the boot. Just past the steel toe part. He took the boot off expecting to see a bloody stump or something. The boot comes off and it looks ok so he's thinking maybe he got lucky. Once the sock came off though, he saw his foot was cut. My Uncle, who had studied to be a nurse at one point, came over, took one look at it and passed out. My Aunt sprang into action and said that she'd take him to the hospital. She jumped in her car and took off leaving Dad behind still bleeding and I'm sure more than a little confused. So mom walks over, takes one look at it and sympathetically says "What did you do now you idiot?" A fair question. Needless to say, as a nurse she doesn't impress easily when it comes to sickness or injuries. She wrapped up his foot with the sock and took him to the hospital where they patched him up. No permanent injury and a good story, sounds like a nice day to me.

Anyways, I seem to have done some topic hopping on this one. I guess my point is that between blocked PICC lines, peripheral IV's, and oncoming hurricanes I'm pretty much going to have to break a bone or something if I expect to get any attention the next few days. And not just a little bone either. It's going to have to be a big important one since people don't impress easily. Oh well, guess I can always count on attention from the kids. Considering how much they like to jump on me when I'm not looking, I might get some attention/sympathy after all.