My New PICC Line

PHOTO: my new PICC line

August 2, 2022, Delray Medical Center, Delray Beach, Florida: MEDICAL UPDATE:

OK ... I am expecting to be discharged tomorrow because they need to do a CPK blood test that is now required to determine my proper antibiotic/dosage. (They have taken so much blood out of me during the last two weeks that they have major difficulty now. Each time, the blood-extraction needles hurt even more. They encourage me to drink more water to hydrate myself. I have stopped taking my usual diuretic pill to help preserve hydration.)

(NOTE: I have also stopped taking my usual blood-pressure pill because I am unable to take pain medication if my blood pressure is too low. They just won't give me the medication due to medical danger.)

So, here's the deal, folks. This early afternoon, a doctor installed a PICC line (44 cm long/about 18 inches long) into my left arm. The line runs from a port in my upper left arm, weaving through the veins in my arm and chest to get the other end as close to my heart as possible.

She was going to use the same vein in my right arm that they were using for my general intravenous antibiotic here at the hospital, but nothing is really that simple for me, right? She discovered a blood clot in that particular vein in my right arm, so she had to switch to my left arm.

I soon had an ultrasound of my right arm, which is required before I can be officially discharged. I requested that the medical technician check the axillary vein in my right arm because I had a blood clot there in the early 1980s. She was going to do that anyway.

So, now I require six weeks of daily intravenous antibiotic (at home) to address an infection in my fractured Tibia (bone) in my right ankle. My right Fibula (bone) is also fractured, both from two falls in April 2023. I am also dealing with a blood infection.

In recent years, I have done this six-week-long (daily) antibiotic regimen many times for cellulitis infections and osteomyelitis (bone infection) in both of my feet/legs due to lingering diabetic ulcers. I have had four surgeries on my left foot: three surgeries to remove decayed bone fragments and one surgery to remove a benign tumor that was growing within a diabetic ulcer.

I initially entered the hospital two weeks ago with severe pain in my back, which seems to have somewhat abated. I was told that my back pain is due to a herniated disk, but it is way too small for surgery, so I have to maintain it with pain medication.

They have also been addressing my sleep apnea, which I haven't been doing at home.

However, at home as in the hospital, I do use medications to control my asthma/COPD (inhaled mist and inhaled powder) ... and my diabetes (four daily finger pricks and four daily insulin injections in my belly). I also receive burning injections in my upper arms and belly of a medication to prevent blood clots.

UPDATE: As per the results of my ultrasound yesterday, a doctor told me that there is was a minor clot, but all is OK. He told me that I will be going home today (August 3, 2023).