I received the results of my ear mole yesterday. They called and said the cyst was benign. I asked for them to send me the pathology report. So I received a "final diagnosis," "gross description," and a "microscopic description." I do what all doctors say not to do, but I'm an excellent googler. :)
I googled the final diagnosis: Seborrheic Keratosis. I'm satisified in their "benign" report based on things I saw on google. It is a benign form of a skin tumor and the cause is unknown. However it's most common after the age of 40 (I'm not there yet for Pete's sake!) and tends to run in families.
I then googled each of the words in the microscopic description. Of course I really didn't understand anything I read. So then I googled, "Seborrheic Keratosis on the ear" and found this article located at this web address: I'll bold the parts that I found interesting.
http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/845901-overview#a30
"Seborrheic keratosis (SK) is common in the head and neck region, but ear involvement is rare. SK results from intracellular changes that create intraepidermal basal cell proliferation. It presents as an oval verrucous plaque. Early, the lesion appears light yellow, and it becomes more brown as its size increases. Histologically, thickened epidermis secondary to accumulation of immature keratinocytes between the basal layer and the surface as well as invaginations of the thickened epithelium that create keratin tunnels are seen. The tumor protrudes above the horizontal plane of the skin. Complete surgical excision is recommended for SK, and a good prognosis is expected. Malignant transformation has been reported. "
I will say that it's odd that I got the "rare" location of the ear. However the rest of the thing proved true. It was kind of oval in shape, it was lighter in the beginning (but not light yellow) and grew brown. It did protrude above the skin. I'm glad it was removed considering the last sentence.
Then I googled for the image. Yep. Mine looked very much like some of the ones pictured. I won't be kind enough to let you see, but if you're interested --- google image seborrheic keratosis on the ear.
Showing posts with label Problems. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Problems. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Quiet Month of August
Here are some synonyms for the word quiet:
"buttoned up, clammed up, close-mouthed, could hear a pin drop, hushed, inaudible, low-pitched, muffled, muted, noiseless, not saying boo, peaceful, quieted, reserved, secretive, silent, soft, soundless, speechless, stilled, tight-lipped, uncommunicative, unexpressed, nonspeaking, and whist."
I feel like this month, I have been reserved and uncommunicative. The bad days in August outweighed the good. That is extremely upsetting for me as I have had pretty good months since February. My husband had his appointment yesterday and we have two different views on how it went. I left feeling pretty rotten about the whole appointment and he left uplifted. Just goes to show you how different we are. Let's just make it succinct to say that he will be getting 6 IV's which will hopefully take care of a deficiency he has.
The good of the IV's will be that he *should* get more energy and it should bring up some nutritional levels that are really low. Since he's never had an IV before, our nurses should have no problems getting a vein. That will be very beneficial for him. The bad of the IV's is that we are finally *almost* out of the woods with my debts because of the things we've had to do financially. In September, he'll have 4 IV's. In October, he'll have 2 IV's and we'll both have follow ups. This doesn't include the financial burden of all new supplements for both of us. He says we'll make it and I just get really nervous and "clammed up." The other bad part is that these will take 4 hours out of his Saturdays. Fortunately my doctor's office is open on Saturdays, but who wants to spend their Saturday's at the doctors. Not to mention, these IV's are similiar to ones that I received at the beginning of my treatment. I know what they did to me and I fear they will do the same to him. I was able to be awake enough to drive home, but as soon as I got home I fell asleep for hours. They gave me tremendous headaches and he's already got those with the new medicine for Candida.
Speaking of Candida, He's already feeling the effects of Candida Treatment and he's talking about things I talked about 2 years ago. I think we found the bulk of his problem. Not Lyme, but Yeast. I won't even go to all the Cardiac problems we think (know) he has. It's too scary to think about. The good news is that he's lost many pounds of weight since his last visit. We're headed towards the right direction.
Now on to me: I have yet to start my LDN and I just get so nervous when I start new things. I need to just suck it up and take it, but the fear of the unknown has had me stalling for the last week and a half. I got one part of my blood work back and 3 of the numbers are out of range and 3 of the numbers are close to out of range. I have a fear that this means he'll want some IV work again on me. Two of us on IV's at the same time? There is NO WAY. I fear what the other blood work will show, but am grateful that they were able to show me the things that have come back.
So when do we go back?
The hubby goes back the first Saturday after Labor Day and goes for 6 Saturdays. On his 5th Saturday, I have my follow up appointment. On his 6th Saturday, I have my follow up appointment. I speculate we will both have bloods after that and then go back in 6 to 8 weeks unless we both are in need of IV's still at that point.
And PICC is a 4 letter word that I don't ever want to see again. Neither is PORT. The doctor says "IV" and those are the two four letter words that come straight to my mind. Well you might ask, "Well you've not had a PICC since February and prior to that no IV insertions since July of 08, why would it automatically mean PICC? Aren't your veins healing?" Well let me tell you a lil story.
A bit after my PICC was removed, they drew blood. You would think that after 7 months of no IV insertions or no regular blood draws that this would be a simple task. Uh no it wasn't. It was absolutely one of the worst experiences that I've had thus far. That was in February of this year. Fast Forward to August 19th. Keep in mind, I hadn't had an IV stick in over a year and I had only had blood drawn ONE time in over a year. The other times were through my PICC line.
I prepare for the blood draw by drinking LOTS of water. I see the Phlebotnist and warn her that I can be quite difficult to stick. Now in the last 3 years, I have yet to meet a Phlebotnist that could get me on the first stick. So I had high expectations of my dear friend who had never had the pleasure of drawing blood from me because only a qualified nurse can draw blood out of a PICC. She promised me it would be simple and easy and that the 13 vials of blood would be a piece of cake!
Because I have passed out in the past and I knew that I had passed out on a "simple" 8 vial draw, I requested to go to my old PICC room so that I could lie down if necessary. She gets things set up and says "Oh there is a beautiful vein." I do my breathing when the lady jabs me so hard that I felt my ears pulsing. She says she got it and starts filling the tubes. The whole time I'm praying, "keep flowing blood .. keep flowing" because I know what happens every time.
The blood always stops after 3/4 of a vial and then they have to jiggle the needle to squeeze blood out of turnip and it always turns into .. "Oh I have to pull this one and try again." Uh yeah it happened again. Two of them were pulling and prodding my arm trying to get the blood to come out, but in the end they pulled the needle and were ready to start again. I told them to go on to the next easy stick and come back to me later. They left me with my heating pad and water. The RN (whom I absolutely love) came back and said she'd work on finding the right vein for the blood draw. We worked together and finally found one.
After an hour, I finally left. Now I still have a small bruise on my arm where they manhandled me to try to get blood. SO you can see why when they say IV .. I think PICC.
"buttoned up, clammed up, close-mouthed, could hear a pin drop, hushed, inaudible, low-pitched, muffled, muted, noiseless, not saying boo, peaceful, quieted, reserved, secretive, silent, soft, soundless, speechless, stilled, tight-lipped, uncommunicative, unexpressed, nonspeaking, and whist."
I feel like this month, I have been reserved and uncommunicative. The bad days in August outweighed the good. That is extremely upsetting for me as I have had pretty good months since February. My husband had his appointment yesterday and we have two different views on how it went. I left feeling pretty rotten about the whole appointment and he left uplifted. Just goes to show you how different we are. Let's just make it succinct to say that he will be getting 6 IV's which will hopefully take care of a deficiency he has.
The good of the IV's will be that he *should* get more energy and it should bring up some nutritional levels that are really low. Since he's never had an IV before, our nurses should have no problems getting a vein. That will be very beneficial for him. The bad of the IV's is that we are finally *almost* out of the woods with my debts because of the things we've had to do financially. In September, he'll have 4 IV's. In October, he'll have 2 IV's and we'll both have follow ups. This doesn't include the financial burden of all new supplements for both of us. He says we'll make it and I just get really nervous and "clammed up." The other bad part is that these will take 4 hours out of his Saturdays. Fortunately my doctor's office is open on Saturdays, but who wants to spend their Saturday's at the doctors. Not to mention, these IV's are similiar to ones that I received at the beginning of my treatment. I know what they did to me and I fear they will do the same to him. I was able to be awake enough to drive home, but as soon as I got home I fell asleep for hours. They gave me tremendous headaches and he's already got those with the new medicine for Candida.
Speaking of Candida, He's already feeling the effects of Candida Treatment and he's talking about things I talked about 2 years ago. I think we found the bulk of his problem. Not Lyme, but Yeast. I won't even go to all the Cardiac problems we think (know) he has. It's too scary to think about. The good news is that he's lost many pounds of weight since his last visit. We're headed towards the right direction.
Now on to me: I have yet to start my LDN and I just get so nervous when I start new things. I need to just suck it up and take it, but the fear of the unknown has had me stalling for the last week and a half. I got one part of my blood work back and 3 of the numbers are out of range and 3 of the numbers are close to out of range. I have a fear that this means he'll want some IV work again on me. Two of us on IV's at the same time? There is NO WAY. I fear what the other blood work will show, but am grateful that they were able to show me the things that have come back.
So when do we go back?
The hubby goes back the first Saturday after Labor Day and goes for 6 Saturdays. On his 5th Saturday, I have my follow up appointment. On his 6th Saturday, I have my follow up appointment. I speculate we will both have bloods after that and then go back in 6 to 8 weeks unless we both are in need of IV's still at that point.
And PICC is a 4 letter word that I don't ever want to see again. Neither is PORT. The doctor says "IV" and those are the two four letter words that come straight to my mind. Well you might ask, "Well you've not had a PICC since February and prior to that no IV insertions since July of 08, why would it automatically mean PICC? Aren't your veins healing?" Well let me tell you a lil story.
A bit after my PICC was removed, they drew blood. You would think that after 7 months of no IV insertions or no regular blood draws that this would be a simple task. Uh no it wasn't. It was absolutely one of the worst experiences that I've had thus far. That was in February of this year. Fast Forward to August 19th. Keep in mind, I hadn't had an IV stick in over a year and I had only had blood drawn ONE time in over a year. The other times were through my PICC line.
I prepare for the blood draw by drinking LOTS of water. I see the Phlebotnist and warn her that I can be quite difficult to stick. Now in the last 3 years, I have yet to meet a Phlebotnist that could get me on the first stick. So I had high expectations of my dear friend who had never had the pleasure of drawing blood from me because only a qualified nurse can draw blood out of a PICC. She promised me it would be simple and easy and that the 13 vials of blood would be a piece of cake!
Because I have passed out in the past and I knew that I had passed out on a "simple" 8 vial draw, I requested to go to my old PICC room so that I could lie down if necessary. She gets things set up and says "Oh there is a beautiful vein." I do my breathing when the lady jabs me so hard that I felt my ears pulsing. She says she got it and starts filling the tubes. The whole time I'm praying, "keep flowing blood .. keep flowing" because I know what happens every time.
The blood always stops after 3/4 of a vial and then they have to jiggle the needle to squeeze blood out of turnip and it always turns into .. "Oh I have to pull this one and try again." Uh yeah it happened again. Two of them were pulling and prodding my arm trying to get the blood to come out, but in the end they pulled the needle and were ready to start again. I told them to go on to the next easy stick and come back to me later. They left me with my heating pad and water. The RN (whom I absolutely love) came back and said she'd work on finding the right vein for the blood draw. We worked together and finally found one.
After an hour, I finally left. Now I still have a small bruise on my arm where they manhandled me to try to get blood. SO you can see why when they say IV .. I think PICC.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Conflicted Lymie
I have felt conflicted as a Lyme Disease patient in the last few months. Since I am able to do more and more "normal" things, most people wouldn't even realize that I have Lyme Disease unless I told them. It is hard to fathom that less than two months ago a PICC line was sustaining my life. I am ever so grateful to every single person that had a hand in my current state of wellness. I am ever so grateful to God for helping me when my quality of life was nill and also now that my quality of life appears almost normal.
What's conflicting about that you ask?
I find that I am not quite "normal" and I'm not quite a "Lymie." I'm in a Lymie Limbo so to speak. It's very difficult because all of my Lyme friends that were in treatment well before I got started ... they are all still sick. Some of them even more sick than they were then. They all call me lucky and blessed and .. well .. NORMAL.
I feel like my body is the game Jenga. Where we're taking pieces from the base and adding to the top. That each piece we pull may or may not be a load bearing piece and that if you pull the wrong piece that my body will just come crashing down. It's important to be careful with every piece and use caution at every move.
The other part is that I am so extremely good at hiding my feelings, my physical pains, my other ailments ..that unless you know me really well ~ you don't know that I still have *some* problems. Albeit those problems aren't even close to where I was two years ago ... It feels more like I did about 7 years ago when I was just having *problems* every so often.
So then when I do complain a bit about a pain here or a pain there, I get the whole "you NEED to be back in treatment." (to which I just want to scream .... )
Well ya know, my brain starts to get RUDE. I immediately think hateful thoughts towards the spiral things that have RUINED my life and unfortunately even to the person that suggests that I NEED more treatment. Then I think, you know what .. I am FIGHTING these little spiral things myself. My body is fighting it off itself. I have an IMMUNE system now and my body is doing what it needs to do to get rid of the Lyme Bacteria.
How do I know?
Because before whenever I was around anyone that was sick (IE a cold, flu, etc.), I would get sick. It did not matter how I protected myself ... I would get sick. Now ... not unless I douse myself with germs (IE when I went to the hospital to visit my granddaddy). Also if I have one or two bad symptom days, they don't last into weeks. My window of "Uh oh" is only 5 days. If I have 5 bad days in a row, I get the pit in my stomach "Uh Oh."
In March, I had 4 total "bad" days. Those were not in a row. Compared to March of 2007 where I had 30 out of 31 bad days. That means in the whole month of March in 2007, I only had ONE good day (and that's not a good day like I have now, it just meant that I hadn't thrown up and wasn't dizzy and didn't sleep for the majority of the day when I wasn't working).
But still even with only 4 bad days, I'm in Lymie Limbo. A Lymie that can't be normal and yet a Lymie that feels somewhat ousted by the Lyme community because I am not complaining every single moment about ailments that I have. The "normal" don't want me around if I do complain about my ailments and the Lymie don't want me because I am somewhat normal. Yes I know that this is all a falsehood created by my own imagination, but it feels somewhat true.
I guess I just need to know this:
Sorry this is so long, but I wanted to get out my Lymie Limbo emotions because I've been feeling like this for a couple of months.
What's conflicting about that you ask?
I find that I am not quite "normal" and I'm not quite a "Lymie." I'm in a Lymie Limbo so to speak. It's very difficult because all of my Lyme friends that were in treatment well before I got started ... they are all still sick. Some of them even more sick than they were then. They all call me lucky and blessed and .. well .. NORMAL.
I feel like my body is the game Jenga. Where we're taking pieces from the base and adding to the top. That each piece we pull may or may not be a load bearing piece and that if you pull the wrong piece that my body will just come crashing down. It's important to be careful with every piece and use caution at every move.
My inner soul is aching right now. I ache because I don't feel apart of my most inner circle anymore. I feel as if (and this is probably not even true, but they are my feelings anyways) they don't think that I can understand what they are going through now because I am "well."
So then when I do complain a bit about a pain here or a pain there, I get the whole "you NEED to be back in treatment." (to which I just want to scream .... )
Well ya know, my brain starts to get RUDE. I immediately think hateful thoughts towards the spiral things that have RUINED my life and unfortunately even to the person that suggests that I NEED more treatment. Then I think, you know what .. I am FIGHTING these little spiral things myself. My body is fighting it off itself. I have an IMMUNE system now and my body is doing what it needs to do to get rid of the Lyme Bacteria.
How do I know?
Because before whenever I was around anyone that was sick (IE a cold, flu, etc.), I would get sick. It did not matter how I protected myself ... I would get sick. Now ... not unless I douse myself with germs (IE when I went to the hospital to visit my granddaddy). Also if I have one or two bad symptom days, they don't last into weeks. My window of "Uh oh" is only 5 days. If I have 5 bad days in a row, I get the pit in my stomach "Uh Oh."
In March, I had 4 total "bad" days. Those were not in a row. Compared to March of 2007 where I had 30 out of 31 bad days. That means in the whole month of March in 2007, I only had ONE good day (and that's not a good day like I have now, it just meant that I hadn't thrown up and wasn't dizzy and didn't sleep for the majority of the day when I wasn't working).
But still even with only 4 bad days, I'm in Lymie Limbo. A Lymie that can't be normal and yet a Lymie that feels somewhat ousted by the Lyme community because I am not complaining every single moment about ailments that I have. The "normal" don't want me around if I do complain about my ailments and the Lymie don't want me because I am somewhat normal. Yes I know that this is all a falsehood created by my own imagination, but it feels somewhat true.
I guess I just need to know this:
Sorry this is so long, but I wanted to get out my Lymie Limbo emotions because I've been feeling like this for a couple of months.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
My LLMD Appt
I saw my Dr on February 7, 2009. This is the appointment in which my PICC line was pulled. I found out lots of things that are disheartening, but also left with hope as always.
The reason I have not wanted to post exactly what I am getting on this blog or any other public forum is for political reasons. Some doctors do not believe that Chronic Lyme exists. Some doctors do. Some doctors that do believe in Chronic Lyme believe in strictly Antibiotic treatments and others believe that there are some alternate methods of treatment. I have a doctor that believes in BOTH methods. The more he learns about Lyme & treatment the more he believes in an alternative path of treatment.
In September, I had a live blood analysis done. I have never asked about other patients that have had this done. However in my appointment on Saturday, my doctor mentioned that the doctor that does this Live Blood Cell Microscope now comes to his office every other month. He now clears his day for these appointments so he can see exactly what is going on with his patient's blood cells.
He said in January there were 5 patients that had this Live Cell done. Three of those patients used the treatment like I used. This Experimental Alternative treatment. Two of the patients used regular antibiotics. Apparently two months prior, they both had about the same amount of borrelia in all three forms of bacterial (L shape, spiral shape & cyst shape). Well in January (IF I am understand correctly) .. the 3 patients that did the alternative method ... there were VERY FEW Cyst forms and their spiral loads had decreased dramatically. The two patients that had done antibiotic therapy .... had LOTS OF CYSTS and lots of the other types too.
What does this have to do with MY appointment you ask? Well, I just found out that my doctor is having difficulty getting the alternative therapy. The doctor that invented this along with another physician in Texas are in trouble with the medical board in Texas because they have been using this treatment. The doctor that invented this & the doctor in Texas have had very high success rates with this treatment. I do not know the whole break down of the situation, but either way it is making it difficult for doctors to get this treatment.
As it was, the compouding pharmacy that made this drug wouldn't send it to North Carolina. So my doctor had to order it through another doctor who would sent it to the few patients he had on this protocol. Well now that doctor has closed his office making it impossible for my doctor to get his hands on these treatments.
THIS TREATMENT HAS SAVED MY LIFE!!!!! I am so upset that not only will I not be able to finish this treatment, but that others that have just begun this treatment won't have access to it either. This is why I was so not wanting to talk about it b/c it's so controversial that if anyone got wind of it .. it would be unavailable. I'm frustrated b/c it's gotten me so far.
So what is in my future? For now, we will stop (obviously we have to b/c he has no more of this drug in his office) and will look at an alternative to use. First in a couple of weeks, I will do the MSA test. This is the test that looks at my "energy" and decides which supplements balance in my body and which things I do not need. It has also correctly identified that I had heavy metals, bartonella, babesia, parasites, candida, and borrelia before any tests picked up on it.
I will not be on any Antibiotics. We are going to be working on getting rid of the damage that was caused by Lyme Disease. I will also start on some fiber to get some of this mess out of my colon (how loverly).
As long as things go as planned, I will not have another IV for 6 months. Our plan for now is for me to start on this stuff called OSR. I don't really quite understand it, but from what I do gather it helps the body make Glutathione. With that, it will help my body detox from Heavy Metals and maybe other things (my guess). Then in 6 months, I will have another IV Chelation Challenge. By that time, my veins should have healed from the PICC line and it will have been well over a year since my veins were accessed by IV other than the PICC.
If my metals have decreased, we know that what we're doing is working. IF my metals have increased or stayed the same, we will know that what we're doing is not working. It will be determined at that point whether more IV Chelations are needed. Of course at that time I am guessing if it is determined that I *do* need more of those ... OR I'm backsliding and am needing IV treatments and my vein access is not great ... another PICC will be discussed, but we're both hopeful that will not be needed.
Also I am going to get another Western Blot test just to see how my bands line up (I really want a CDC positive to SHOVE in my regular physician's face).
So that's all for now.
The reason I have not wanted to post exactly what I am getting on this blog or any other public forum is for political reasons. Some doctors do not believe that Chronic Lyme exists. Some doctors do. Some doctors that do believe in Chronic Lyme believe in strictly Antibiotic treatments and others believe that there are some alternate methods of treatment. I have a doctor that believes in BOTH methods. The more he learns about Lyme & treatment the more he believes in an alternative path of treatment.
In September, I had a live blood analysis done. I have never asked about other patients that have had this done. However in my appointment on Saturday, my doctor mentioned that the doctor that does this Live Blood Cell Microscope now comes to his office every other month. He now clears his day for these appointments so he can see exactly what is going on with his patient's blood cells.
He said in January there were 5 patients that had this Live Cell done. Three of those patients used the treatment like I used. This Experimental Alternative treatment. Two of the patients used regular antibiotics. Apparently two months prior, they both had about the same amount of borrelia in all three forms of bacterial (L shape, spiral shape & cyst shape). Well in January (IF I am understand correctly) .. the 3 patients that did the alternative method ... there were VERY FEW Cyst forms and their spiral loads had decreased dramatically. The two patients that had done antibiotic therapy .... had LOTS OF CYSTS and lots of the other types too.
What does this have to do with MY appointment you ask? Well, I just found out that my doctor is having difficulty getting the alternative therapy. The doctor that invented this along with another physician in Texas are in trouble with the medical board in Texas because they have been using this treatment. The doctor that invented this & the doctor in Texas have had very high success rates with this treatment. I do not know the whole break down of the situation, but either way it is making it difficult for doctors to get this treatment.
As it was, the compouding pharmacy that made this drug wouldn't send it to North Carolina. So my doctor had to order it through another doctor who would sent it to the few patients he had on this protocol. Well now that doctor has closed his office making it impossible for my doctor to get his hands on these treatments.
THIS TREATMENT HAS SAVED MY LIFE!!!!! I am so upset that not only will I not be able to finish this treatment, but that others that have just begun this treatment won't have access to it either. This is why I was so not wanting to talk about it b/c it's so controversial that if anyone got wind of it .. it would be unavailable. I'm frustrated b/c it's gotten me so far.
So what is in my future? For now, we will stop (obviously we have to b/c he has no more of this drug in his office) and will look at an alternative to use. First in a couple of weeks, I will do the MSA test. This is the test that looks at my "energy" and decides which supplements balance in my body and which things I do not need. It has also correctly identified that I had heavy metals, bartonella, babesia, parasites, candida, and borrelia before any tests picked up on it.
I will not be on any Antibiotics. We are going to be working on getting rid of the damage that was caused by Lyme Disease. I will also start on some fiber to get some of this mess out of my colon (how loverly).
As long as things go as planned, I will not have another IV for 6 months. Our plan for now is for me to start on this stuff called OSR. I don't really quite understand it, but from what I do gather it helps the body make Glutathione. With that, it will help my body detox from Heavy Metals and maybe other things (my guess). Then in 6 months, I will have another IV Chelation Challenge. By that time, my veins should have healed from the PICC line and it will have been well over a year since my veins were accessed by IV other than the PICC.
If my metals have decreased, we know that what we're doing is working. IF my metals have increased or stayed the same, we will know that what we're doing is not working. It will be determined at that point whether more IV Chelations are needed. Of course at that time I am guessing if it is determined that I *do* need more of those ... OR I'm backsliding and am needing IV treatments and my vein access is not great ... another PICC will be discussed, but we're both hopeful that will not be needed.
Also I am going to get another Western Blot test just to see how my bands line up (I really want a CDC positive to SHOVE in my regular physician's face).
So that's all for now.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
a tiny cold
About a week ago, I was exposed to three major illnesses. I knew that the liklihood that I'd wind up with some form of these was significantly high, but hoped and prayed that they would not come to fruition. Here it is 9 days before Christmas and I wake up with (TMI) the snots and the sore throat. I also have a cough. If this cold goes in the same directions as any other cold I've ever had in the last 4 years, I will be hoarse by Christmas. What a present for my husband.
Please pray that the treatment I had on Saturday will continue to work it's magic and I will not become so sick that I have to "skip" Christmas. I feel GREAT, but my nose and throat and cough. :( Not so happy about that. I have been feeling the 'tickle' in my throat since Thursday or Friday, but the cough didn't start until yesterday ... woke up with the nasty green nose (At least it's Christmas Colors) today and well it seems that fate always has me sick on something I'm really looking forward to *which you'll hear all about tonight*
I'll survive. Always do.
Please pray that the treatment I had on Saturday will continue to work it's magic and I will not become so sick that I have to "skip" Christmas. I feel GREAT, but my nose and throat and cough. :( Not so happy about that. I have been feeling the 'tickle' in my throat since Thursday or Friday, but the cough didn't start until yesterday ... woke up with the nasty green nose (At least it's Christmas Colors) today and well it seems that fate always has me sick on something I'm really looking forward to *which you'll hear all about tonight*
I'll survive. Always do.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Grey's: PICC Line Style
Summary: Jennifer gets massive rash all over arm and winds up at the hospital for an evaluation. McJeff reprives his role as Funny PICC line guy along with McHotty for a technician and McMuscles as doctor. :)
Episode: On Thursday, Jennifer arrives very late at her doctor's office hoping that someone is there to assist with a new dressing on the PICC line. Fortunately though it was late, Nurse J was there. She spent 3 hours on the phone with Rex Hospital, Dr. J, Dr. W. and Nurse M. She also wrote notes out for the hospital staff, and changed the oozy drippy PICC line dressing. On Friday, Jennifer arrives at the Rex Medical Building at 3:01 to begin the waiting for registration and for seeing Doctor McMuscles, Techie McHotty, and PICC line guru McJeff.
After moving from the registration waiting room and arriving at the radiology waiting room, Jennifer arrives at the vascular radiology waiting room. Upon waiting in the third and final room, she helps a man when he asks where they are. "Uh the hospital." That was a lot of help she was sure, but apparently he needed more answers. "Uh the waiting room?" Apparently that wasn't good enough either. :) So Jennifer provided a more detailed way to get there. "Tell them to go the radiology main desk or radiology registration and a volunteer will bring them to the radiology waiting room." Jennifer pondered whether it appeared she was the leading expert in hospital waits since they chose to ask her instead of the 10 other people in the cramped waiting room.
Finally McGuyshethinksisthetech appears in the door way. "Mrs. A?" McGuyshethinksisthetech called. Jennifer grabbed her belongings which included 4 pages of notes, a purse, saran wrap and quickly scrambled to the doorway hoping McGuyshethinksisthetech didn't notice her drooling when she was dozing off. "Mrs. A I just wanted to let you know that we have another patient in x-ray right now. It will be a few more minutes. We just didn't want you to think we had forgotten about you." She felt dejected that she had to go back to the uncomfortable waiting room chair watching the other 12 folks in the waiting rooms either dozing in the chairs or on their cell phones. Finally after 10 more minutes, Jennifer gets called to the doorway by technie McHotty.
"How are you doing?" McHotty said.
"I'm here aren't I? I can't be doing so hot." Jennifer said.
McHotty laughed and said "let's see if we can see what's causing the problems."
Jennifer notices a huge sign that says "proper attire required beyond this door" and says "HEY I'm not wearing proper attire."
McHotty says "that's for the staff" and he laughs.
Jennifer thinks to herself that she at least got a humorous tech.
First McHotty looked at Jennifer's arm and then removed the dressing so he could see the insertion point. He grabbed Doctor McMuscles to come in to look. After looking at it for a few minutes, he said that he did not think the actual catheter was compromised. He took into consideration that Jennifer was still being able to infuse a treatment on the 3rd with no problems and still got good blood return with her heparin syringe on the 4th late at night. McMuscles believes that Jennifer is having a serious allergic reaction to something that Nurse M & J are using, but of course doesn't know what. McMuscles determined that Nurse M and Jennifer should figure out on their own how to clean it the best way without leaving an itchy, blistery oozy mess in future dressing changes.
Shortly afterwards, PICC line guru McJeff waltzed in to help change the dressing with McHotty and when he saw Jennifer uttered the phrase "OOoo not you again." He winked at her and McHotty said 'you know her?' and McJeff said "of course, she's my favorite nervous, but oh so hilarious patient." As they were changing the dressing, they all were cracking up. At one point, he was taking off the stat lock (which had deteriorated from all the yelllow ooze) and he said "what's this yellow stuff?" Jennifer said "my bodily fluids, shouldn't you be wearing gloves or something?" and he said "Oooo now you tell me" and winked at her.
McJeff and McHotty began to change the bandage quickly as Jennifer says, "How many techs does it take to change a dressing?" She would have continued with the rederick of "1 to hold the PICC line, 1 to cut the bandage, 1 to push it back in a bit, 1 to write the codes for insurance, 1 to find the doctor, 1 to apply the new dressing, 1 to calm the patient, 1 to ....," but they were finding all the necessary supplies for this delicate "operation."
The new dressing for Jennifer consisted of a sterile 2x2 gauze and a hypoallergenic dressing. Upon beginning the dressing change, McJeff winked and handed her two huge rolls of the stuff and said "this is between you, me, and that guy over there" while pointing to McHotty. He said that the hypoallergenic stuff would help it breathe a lot better and have a little more protection than gauze and paper tape. He laughed and said "Don't do that again," all while pointing at the dressing that was removed that was covered in yellow ooze. Jennifer laughed and told him that Nurse J had been instructed to cover the PICC line in that manor over the phone by a doctor at the hospital.
To try to figure out the underlying problem, McJeff (and no JEFF .. this isn't you .. the guy's real name is JEFF. ) asked how it was being cleaned. He showed Jennifer a variety of supplies and finally she pointed out out two she recognized. One looked like a condom on a stick and the other looked like a vial of blood. McJeff suggested it was the blood vial looking one that caused all the blisters and begin cleaning the site with the condom looking one. It immediately caused burning and a heat that Jennifer has never felt before during a dressing change.
She calmly stated "ooo that burns quite a bit" and speculates that it is because the skin is so sensitive with the oozing blisters of fun that is causing the burning sensation. McJeff said "I've heard that one before" and winked. (Jennifer is beginning to think that maybe she should suggest to McJeff that he has Lyme Disease. After all, twitching is a symptom). He stopped cleaning and mentioned that he didn't like to torture his favorite patients though it might be a little fun. He recommended that Nurse M might not want to use the condom one from now on.
As soon as he applied the new dressing, Jennifer's arm felt warm and itchy. She was thinking at the time that the dressing either ain't gonnna work or that the condom cleanser would cause another reaction. McJeff helped Jennifer put on her Lime Green Jacket and she said "You always help me put on my clothes. At least this time, you didn't have to put on my shirt."
McJeff said "I always help a lady put on her clothes after I've finished my business with her." They laughed hysterically and Jennifer thought to herself that this could be a sexual harrassment suit just waiting to happen with all the winking and statements that McJeff is using. :)
Jennifer arrived home in the pouring rain and immediately took 50mg of benedryl for the itching and to help dry out the blisters that were still there in all their glory.
Jennifer's arm is itching worse Friday than it did Thursday. The bumps outside the dressing are smaller, but there is more of them. Sooooo in order to prove or disprove that this new type of dressing is or is not causing the problem; Jennifer is going to conduct an experiment on herself. She is going to place a piece on her belly or my leg or my other arm or something. She already did this with the tegaderm type of dressing that she has by Nexcare and no rash showed up on her belly after 24 hours. Jennifer's McHusband bedadined the spot and also alcoholed the spot before applying the dressing. She also placed paper tape on her belly as well. She discovered no rash or redness appeared at either site.
Stay tuned as Jennifer goes through the weekend with itchy skin and dreams of McHotty, McMuscle and McJeff and hopefully has no more leakage of the blisters.
Episode: On Thursday, Jennifer arrives very late at her doctor's office hoping that someone is there to assist with a new dressing on the PICC line. Fortunately though it was late, Nurse J was there. She spent 3 hours on the phone with Rex Hospital, Dr. J, Dr. W. and Nurse M. She also wrote notes out for the hospital staff, and changed the oozy drippy PICC line dressing. On Friday, Jennifer arrives at the Rex Medical Building at 3:01 to begin the waiting for registration and for seeing Doctor McMuscles, Techie McHotty, and PICC line guru McJeff.
After moving from the registration waiting room and arriving at the radiology waiting room, Jennifer arrives at the vascular radiology waiting room. Upon waiting in the third and final room, she helps a man when he asks where they are. "Uh the hospital." That was a lot of help she was sure, but apparently he needed more answers. "Uh the waiting room?" Apparently that wasn't good enough either. :) So Jennifer provided a more detailed way to get there. "Tell them to go the radiology main desk or radiology registration and a volunteer will bring them to the radiology waiting room." Jennifer pondered whether it appeared she was the leading expert in hospital waits since they chose to ask her instead of the 10 other people in the cramped waiting room.
Finally McGuyshethinksisthetech appears in the door way. "Mrs. A?" McGuyshethinksisthetech called. Jennifer grabbed her belongings which included 4 pages of notes, a purse, saran wrap and quickly scrambled to the doorway hoping McGuyshethinksisthetech didn't notice her drooling when she was dozing off. "Mrs. A I just wanted to let you know that we have another patient in x-ray right now. It will be a few more minutes. We just didn't want you to think we had forgotten about you." She felt dejected that she had to go back to the uncomfortable waiting room chair watching the other 12 folks in the waiting rooms either dozing in the chairs or on their cell phones. Finally after 10 more minutes, Jennifer gets called to the doorway by technie McHotty.
"How are you doing?" McHotty said.
"I'm here aren't I? I can't be doing so hot." Jennifer said.
McHotty laughed and said "let's see if we can see what's causing the problems."
Jennifer notices a huge sign that says "proper attire required beyond this door" and says "HEY I'm not wearing proper attire."
McHotty says "that's for the staff" and he laughs.
Jennifer thinks to herself that she at least got a humorous tech.
First McHotty looked at Jennifer's arm and then removed the dressing so he could see the insertion point. He grabbed Doctor McMuscles to come in to look. After looking at it for a few minutes, he said that he did not think the actual catheter was compromised. He took into consideration that Jennifer was still being able to infuse a treatment on the 3rd with no problems and still got good blood return with her heparin syringe on the 4th late at night. McMuscles believes that Jennifer is having a serious allergic reaction to something that Nurse M & J are using, but of course doesn't know what. McMuscles determined that Nurse M and Jennifer should figure out on their own how to clean it the best way without leaving an itchy, blistery oozy mess in future dressing changes.
Shortly afterwards, PICC line guru McJeff waltzed in to help change the dressing with McHotty and when he saw Jennifer uttered the phrase "OOoo not you again." He winked at her and McHotty said 'you know her?' and McJeff said "of course, she's my favorite nervous, but oh so hilarious patient." As they were changing the dressing, they all were cracking up. At one point, he was taking off the stat lock (which had deteriorated from all the yelllow ooze) and he said "what's this yellow stuff?" Jennifer said "my bodily fluids, shouldn't you be wearing gloves or something?" and he said "Oooo now you tell me" and winked at her.
McJeff and McHotty began to change the bandage quickly as Jennifer says, "How many techs does it take to change a dressing?" She would have continued with the rederick of "1 to hold the PICC line, 1 to cut the bandage, 1 to push it back in a bit, 1 to write the codes for insurance, 1 to find the doctor, 1 to apply the new dressing, 1 to calm the patient, 1 to ....," but they were finding all the necessary supplies for this delicate "operation."
The new dressing for Jennifer consisted of a sterile 2x2 gauze and a hypoallergenic dressing. Upon beginning the dressing change, McJeff winked and handed her two huge rolls of the stuff and said "this is between you, me, and that guy over there" while pointing to McHotty. He said that the hypoallergenic stuff would help it breathe a lot better and have a little more protection than gauze and paper tape. He laughed and said "Don't do that again," all while pointing at the dressing that was removed that was covered in yellow ooze. Jennifer laughed and told him that Nurse J had been instructed to cover the PICC line in that manor over the phone by a doctor at the hospital.
To try to figure out the underlying problem, McJeff (and no JEFF .. this isn't you .. the guy's real name is JEFF. ) asked how it was being cleaned. He showed Jennifer a variety of supplies and finally she pointed out out two she recognized. One looked like a condom on a stick and the other looked like a vial of blood. McJeff suggested it was the blood vial looking one that caused all the blisters and begin cleaning the site with the condom looking one. It immediately caused burning and a heat that Jennifer has never felt before during a dressing change.
She calmly stated "ooo that burns quite a bit" and speculates that it is because the skin is so sensitive with the oozing blisters of fun that is causing the burning sensation. McJeff said "I've heard that one before" and winked. (Jennifer is beginning to think that maybe she should suggest to McJeff that he has Lyme Disease. After all, twitching is a symptom). He stopped cleaning and mentioned that he didn't like to torture his favorite patients though it might be a little fun. He recommended that Nurse M might not want to use the condom one from now on.
As soon as he applied the new dressing, Jennifer's arm felt warm and itchy. She was thinking at the time that the dressing either ain't gonnna work or that the condom cleanser would cause another reaction. McJeff helped Jennifer put on her Lime Green Jacket and she said "You always help me put on my clothes. At least this time, you didn't have to put on my shirt."
McJeff said "I always help a lady put on her clothes after I've finished my business with her." They laughed hysterically and Jennifer thought to herself that this could be a sexual harrassment suit just waiting to happen with all the winking and statements that McJeff is using. :)
Jennifer arrived home in the pouring rain and immediately took 50mg of benedryl for the itching and to help dry out the blisters that were still there in all their glory.
Jennifer's arm is itching worse Friday than it did Thursday. The bumps outside the dressing are smaller, but there is more of them. Sooooo in order to prove or disprove that this new type of dressing is or is not causing the problem; Jennifer is going to conduct an experiment on herself. She is going to place a piece on her belly or my leg or my other arm or something. She already did this with the tegaderm type of dressing that she has by Nexcare and no rash showed up on her belly after 24 hours. Jennifer's McHusband bedadined the spot and also alcoholed the spot before applying the dressing. She also placed paper tape on her belly as well. She discovered no rash or redness appeared at either site.
Stay tuned as Jennifer goes through the weekend with itchy skin and dreams of McHotty, McMuscle and McJeff and hopefully has no more leakage of the blisters.
Friday, September 19, 2008
Problems w/ PICC
Just a little update for those that are interested in my life and PICC line.
So July 17, 2008 I received the PICC Line. The first couple of weeks were so extremely painful that I thought "Just pull the damn thing out. I'd rather deal with weekly tries of IV's that end unsucessfully."
Rob had to help me slowly put on my shirt. Rob had to bathe me. Rob had to brush my hair. Rob had to get me comfortable in the bed with pillows so I could rest though I never would fall asleep. I had to use my left hand for eating b/c I couldn't move my right hand up to my mouth. I would miss my mouth completely because my eye hand coordination was so off. It was hard to drive b/c I couldn't use my right hand.
Finally there was a break through. I pushed through the pain to put on my own clothes. I pushed through the pain to brush my own hair awkwardly and to even wash my own hair leaned over in the bathtub. I was more able to do things with my left hand and things started getting better. THEN ... the blisters happened. I went in for a dressing change ... which is painful in itself and upon removing the dressing, they saw the blisters. Eventually those blisters started leaking and I was beginning to think that the PICC would get pulled because they were not looking good at all. I had it changed 3 times in 7 days.
What is a dressing change you ask? Sounds simle enough, but it's a somewhat complicated process. I go into my nurse's office. She gathers supplies that are all sterile. She has to wear a mask to protect my body from her germs. She has to wear sterile gloves. She pulls off the old dressing and removes the gauze from my skin. She then begins to clean the area with an alcohol swab, betadine and other skin prep. This process hurts. Sometime during this she removes what is called the "stat lock" which keeps the PICC line from coming out during the week and puts on a new stat lock. She then replaces with new sterile gauze and new clear dressing. Then she changes the tip with a brand new tip. Voila. It's done.
Well a week or two ago when we discovered the blisters, we figured that I must be allergic to some part of the dressing change. So we left off some parts of the cleaning ..a nd moved the stat lock a bit to give the blisters a break. Then on the 3rd change of the week, we changed the dressing so where the gauze was partially left exposed so air could get under there and dry out the blisters. The blisters have stopped oozing so we'll see what they look like on wednesday when I go in for a new dressing change.
The pain you ask? It is much improved. However if I lift something too heavy or lift too much .. then I feel it later and a heating pad is required to lessen the pain. Last week was a tough week b/c I thought I was able to do more and I realized very quickly that lifting a baby was NOT a good idea. Tylenol and a heating pad were my friends that night along with benedryl to stop the itching. I felt one night that I was just gonna scratch my arm off. Since July 16th, I have gotten a total of four nights of decent sleep.
Those of you that know me in real life, know that this is very difficult for me as I am used to sleeping 9 or 10 hours a night. So this lack of sleep has left me severely depressed. I think the last two weeks I have cried every day. It is very difficult because I do not want to go back to the days where I cried every day. That was a tough time in my life and I don't wanna go back there. There is a difference between now and then. Now I am getting treatment. I know I will get better. I know I am mentally strong. Then, I had no diagnosis. I had no treatment plan and I was extremely weak.
The most difficult part of all of this is accepting my limitations and having others accept that I can not do the things that I used to do. The other part is that I want to be able to do things with my best friends, but I am torn. Do I want them to see me like this? Do they want to see me like this? Do I care if they see a tube hanging out of my arm? Do they even care (that they have to see it)? Or do they just want to see me no matter how I am feeling or how many meds they have to watch me take or how many tears I shed while they are there?
My blisters had completely healed and my arm was looking great. I went in for one of my treatments and a dressing change and we cleaned arm thoroughly. That night it began to give me problems. It itched, it hurt, and it was oozing. That night, I had Rob get that dressing off of my arm to replace it with a new dressing because I had ooze completely through what was done that morning. By that morning, it was nasty again. I rushed to the doctors and had the nurse look at it again. She changed the dressing again. That afternoon I had an appointment with another lady there and it was oozed out so we changed the dressing one more time. This was time number 4. I was up there every day that week getting my dressing changed and my husband even changed it a couple times. Leading to 9 dressing changes in a very short period of time.
Stay Tuned: the hospital visit.
P.S. My blisters look better now. There was no oozing this last week and the blisters had dried up. :)
So July 17, 2008 I received the PICC Line. The first couple of weeks were so extremely painful that I thought "Just pull the damn thing out. I'd rather deal with weekly tries of IV's that end unsucessfully."
Rob had to help me slowly put on my shirt. Rob had to bathe me. Rob had to brush my hair. Rob had to get me comfortable in the bed with pillows so I could rest though I never would fall asleep. I had to use my left hand for eating b/c I couldn't move my right hand up to my mouth. I would miss my mouth completely because my eye hand coordination was so off. It was hard to drive b/c I couldn't use my right hand.
Finally there was a break through. I pushed through the pain to put on my own clothes. I pushed through the pain to brush my own hair awkwardly and to even wash my own hair leaned over in the bathtub. I was more able to do things with my left hand and things started getting better. THEN ... the blisters happened. I went in for a dressing change ... which is painful in itself and upon removing the dressing, they saw the blisters. Eventually those blisters started leaking and I was beginning to think that the PICC would get pulled because they were not looking good at all. I had it changed 3 times in 7 days.
What is a dressing change you ask? Sounds simle enough, but it's a somewhat complicated process. I go into my nurse's office. She gathers supplies that are all sterile. She has to wear a mask to protect my body from her germs. She has to wear sterile gloves. She pulls off the old dressing and removes the gauze from my skin. She then begins to clean the area with an alcohol swab, betadine and other skin prep. This process hurts. Sometime during this she removes what is called the "stat lock" which keeps the PICC line from coming out during the week and puts on a new stat lock. She then replaces with new sterile gauze and new clear dressing. Then she changes the tip with a brand new tip. Voila. It's done.
Well a week or two ago when we discovered the blisters, we figured that I must be allergic to some part of the dressing change. So we left off some parts of the cleaning ..a nd moved the stat lock a bit to give the blisters a break. Then on the 3rd change of the week, we changed the dressing so where the gauze was partially left exposed so air could get under there and dry out the blisters. The blisters have stopped oozing so we'll see what they look like on wednesday when I go in for a new dressing change.
The pain you ask? It is much improved. However if I lift something too heavy or lift too much .. then I feel it later and a heating pad is required to lessen the pain. Last week was a tough week b/c I thought I was able to do more and I realized very quickly that lifting a baby was NOT a good idea. Tylenol and a heating pad were my friends that night along with benedryl to stop the itching. I felt one night that I was just gonna scratch my arm off. Since July 16th, I have gotten a total of four nights of decent sleep.
Those of you that know me in real life, know that this is very difficult for me as I am used to sleeping 9 or 10 hours a night. So this lack of sleep has left me severely depressed. I think the last two weeks I have cried every day. It is very difficult because I do not want to go back to the days where I cried every day. That was a tough time in my life and I don't wanna go back there. There is a difference between now and then. Now I am getting treatment. I know I will get better. I know I am mentally strong. Then, I had no diagnosis. I had no treatment plan and I was extremely weak.
The most difficult part of all of this is accepting my limitations and having others accept that I can not do the things that I used to do. The other part is that I want to be able to do things with my best friends, but I am torn. Do I want them to see me like this? Do they want to see me like this? Do I care if they see a tube hanging out of my arm? Do they even care (that they have to see it)? Or do they just want to see me no matter how I am feeling or how many meds they have to watch me take or how many tears I shed while they are there?
My blisters had completely healed and my arm was looking great. I went in for one of my treatments and a dressing change and we cleaned arm thoroughly. That night it began to give me problems. It itched, it hurt, and it was oozing. That night, I had Rob get that dressing off of my arm to replace it with a new dressing because I had ooze completely through what was done that morning. By that morning, it was nasty again. I rushed to the doctors and had the nurse look at it again. She changed the dressing again. That afternoon I had an appointment with another lady there and it was oozed out so we changed the dressing one more time. This was time number 4. I was up there every day that week getting my dressing changed and my husband even changed it a couple times. Leading to 9 dressing changes in a very short period of time.
Stay Tuned: the hospital visit.
P.S. My blisters look better now. There was no oozing this last week and the blisters had dried up. :)
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