The past 24 hours have been kinda hilarious, and not in a funny way. Long story short, we came to the hospital because Mom woke up with a swollen and bluish right arm. We called the ER at MD, and they referred us to the infusion therapy center first. Then those people told us to just come in so they could take a look at it. Once we got here and they'd taken their look, they attempted to page Mom's oncologist, but for some reason they couldn't reach him. Eventually they just transferred us to the ER.
Between about 3:30 PM and 12 midnight, they did x-rays, a CT scan, an ultrasound on Mom's arm and chest, a new IV line because the first one wouldn't work. But then they couldn't find a vein because Mom's veins are pretty much shot from all the poking she's had the past few months. There's scar tissue in her veins, and that all takes time to heal. They finally had to get this brand new 70K+ machine and an IV team (they have teams that specialize in that here. crazy) specialist to come and find a good vein. Anyway, after it was all said and done, it was pretty late when we got to her room.
They decided it'd be best to admit her so that they could keep a close eye on the clot, so at about 12:45 a.m., we were finally brought to her room. They still had to do this and that and remove her PICC line, so it was almost 3 a.m. when we got to sleep. And then it wasn't really sleep because they came in about every hour to take vitals and do the stuff hospital people do. Yes, we're sleepy.
So far, the plan is to put Mom on blood thinners for 3-6 months. I figured they could just clear the clot, but it'll take several months for it to clear. Again, they removed the line, and tomorrow her oncologist will have to decide whether to use the other arm to to place a chest port...or something.
This is not abnormal for people with PICC or CVC lines. It's a common complication, and although they do their best to prevent these, sometimes stuff just happens. Her last line was great and problem-free. This one is a little different.
They want to release my mom tomorrow as long as the CT scan comes out with no problems.
So when we got to her room in the ER yesterday, Mom's nurse said, "Wait...I've seen y'all before. You were down the hall...room 28..." And it wasn't just she who recognized us; there were others. My mom told her we just had nothing better to do on Saturdays but to pay a visit to her ER friends.
At least this time her only discomfort was her arm. Other than that, she wasn't feeling too bad, so our time was nothing like it was in the past.
So help us pray that this clot doesn't back itself up into her chest area and that it would clear quickly quickly. Too, pray that her oncologist (and the other docs for that matter) would have wisdom in deciding what to do as it relates to a line for the chemo.
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