Tuesday, April 29, 2008

IV Times Three

Yesterday, the IV in Anthony's left hand went bad. Mark tried to flush the IV to start his infusion, and the catheter was out of Anthony's vein. There was some bleeding, so Mark took Anthony to the ER to get him checked out and to get another IV put in.

The second IV went into Anthony's right hand. I couldn't imagine him being without his writing hand (read: COLORING HAND) for four days, but it had to be done.

Before Anthony went to bed last night, I saw a little blood return in the IV line; this isn't abnormal, but I wanted to make sure the blood hadn't clotted and clogged the line. I couldn't flush even a bit of saline through it. Mark tried, and we really pushed as hard as we dared (don't want to push TOO hard, it might hurt Anthony and blow the line). We packed up, and headed back to the ER. Thankfully, there was "just" a kink in the line, and we were able to keep the IV.

Last night's infusion went well. No problems, and the line flushed easily. This morning's infusion took longer than normal, and the line was sluggish when I flushed it at the end. I was pretty sure we had lost that line, too.

I tried to flush it again around 10:00 and Anthony started saying, "It hurts!" First sign that an IV line has blown? Pain. Crap it.

Three hours in the ER, and we've got a THIRD IV line. This one is in his left arm, between the wrist and elbow. Anthony's got full use of his left arm, and both hands. The infusion this afternoon went perfectly, and this line flushed better than the other two.

Can I just say that entertaining your four-year-old in an ER full of sick people is VERY hard? We played hide the sticker, I told him stories about when I was a little girl, we talked about his transplant...and we had most of the other kids in the ER crowded around us as I told story after story about "Super Anthony". I'm amazed at how other parents have no problem NOT paying attention to their children and trying to keep them entertained. I was the sole entertainer of the pediatric ER for about an hour. And most of those kids were sitting there, in front of my immunosuppressed kid, puking into barf bags - all the while laughing at whatever silly nonsense I had made up. "Hi. Your kid is barfing. Wanna come get him???" Finally, a nurse that recognized Anthony from yesterday found us and took us to a back room. She didn't like the fact that my immunosuppressed kid was sitting in a germy ER waiting room. Ha. Me, either!

Please pray that he can keep this line until Thursday's infusion is over!!!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dear Laurie: I've had a lot of problems with my six when they were ill, but nothing like you are going through. Be brave! This, too shall pass.
Hugs and kisses to the three of you. Love, Gram

Laurie in Ca. said...

I sure am glad the nurse came to your rescue and swept Anthony away from the "GERMS". I am a grandmother now and am so amazed at the number of mothers who do not watch their kids. I don't get it. Praying for Anthony's line to stay put like glue until after Thursday's infusion. You are such a good mom. Praying for that precious new baby too.

Love, Laurie in Ca.

Stacy said...

You are so much more patient than I am! I always pull the "immunosupressed child" card when we enter an ER or Urgent Care. Is he that immunosuppressed? No. But, even a "normal" kid would get sick in those places.

Glad you pulled the plug and called it quits - no way I would have allowed a 4th IV, either.

Hugs!
Stacy