A Day In Hell

February 9, 2024, Delray Medical Center, arrival on February 6, 2024

A Day In Hell

Today's Procedure: potential removal of six-inch-long, hair-thin "wire" in a blood vessel between my heart and my lung

Previous: X-ray of chest; CT scan of chest without contrast

Today: I had an echocardiogram of my heart in my bed in my hospital room. I was then wheeled in my bed for a CT scan with contrast. The contrast "blew up" my intravenous port (very painful), so I required the installation of another port. For about 90 minutes, six female nurses and one male paramedic continued to stick needles in both of my arms and hands, about ten to fifteen times, trying to insert an intravenous port. All failed. The pain was so massive that I finally screamed, pushed them away, and told them to stop. One nurse was able to get a thin intravenous port into a small vein in the back of my right hand. They then decided to install a mid-line in a vein in my right upper arm. So, they were able to do the CT scan with contrast through the mid-line with no pain this time. The doctor/radiologist assessed my CT scan and decided to proceed with the procedure this afternoon.

I was then wheeled into the operating room. Just as I was being sedated, a nurse started shaving me down there. I was at her mercy. The procedure involved the insertion of a camera into a vein in the right side of my groin area and fed up the vein to my heart. The idea was to "lasso" the wire and pull it out. Surprise. After all of this pain, it's still there. The wire is embedded in the blood vessel and cannot be removed. Before the procedure, the doctor/radiologist informed me that this was a possibility.

I arrived here at the hospital on February 6, 2024, with shortness of breath and a swollen, painful, infected (cellulitis) right ankle and foot. While my breathing is better due to heavy-duty nebulizer (breathing) treatments, my right ankle and foot are still swollen and still hurt. I am receiving powerful intravenous antibiotics for my right ankle and foot. After an X-ray, my podiatrist told me that my ankle is fractured, which it was in two places about a year ago. He has requested a CT scan, an MRI, and maybe a biopsy.

I had two spinal surgeries in 2023 (September and October), so I am still unable to stand without support, and now, I can't put any weight on my right ankle and foot. I may not be able to have the MRI because now a titanium metal rod is holding my spine together.

Also, I had quadruple coronary artery bypass surgery in March 2022 followed by two chest surgeries in May 2022, but the wire in my chest (the size of half a piece of spaghetti, as per my doctor/radiologist) has been determined to be unrelated.

I am going to drown my sorrows in sugar-free candy.

Clarification: My doctor/radiologist thinks it's a broken piece of a PICC line, but it doesn't sound like it.

UPDATE: My intravenous antibiotics were switched from my IV port in my right hand to my mid-line in my right arm. The wrap around my mid-line was taken off. My IV port was removed from my right hand.

I will receive more intravenous antibiotics to knock out the infection in my right ankle and foot. I am breathing better, and nothing can be done with that piece of "wire" in my chest.