New PICC Line

March 18, 2024, at home

This mid-afternoon, I returned home from the hospital after arriving there with my wife around 8 a.m. today. I needed to get a PICC line replaced/reinstalled due to leakage twice.

This was my third time in as many weeks at the Emergency Room at the hospital. The first two time, the two-port line was in a very thin vein in my upper right arm and was not sufficient to infuse the massive amounts of powerful intravenous antibiotics that I need to receive three times per day, every day for six weeks, at home.

Now, after this afternoon's procedure that took less than an hour, the line was installed in my upper left arm near my armpit. While I had my series of usual painful moments, the single-port line is now in a sturdy vein that weaves 16 inches long through veins finally ending close to my heart. The single port causes fewer problems than the double port, which I had the last two times, so I requested the single port this time.

I require the antibiotics for an infection in the bone of my right ankle and an infection under the surrounding skin. I receive two bags of intravenous antibiotics every morning and one bag of intravenous antibiotics every evening every day for six weeks. I am monitored every Monday morning with weekly blood extractions for the testing of my kidneys. I missed today's extraction due to my procedure.

My home nurse administers the morning infusions. My wife administers the evening infusion. I would assume that my nurse will now prepare the three bags and just administer the first one. He may stay to administer the second bag because the infusions will now be faster.

I have done this regimen at least ten times in recent years for infections in both of my feet and legs due to diabetic ulcers, and more recently in infections in the bone and a disk in my spine, hence the need to have the procedure done with a team of radiologists in a hospital operating room due to scar tissue.

My radiologist assured me that this new PICC line will be more than sufficient to carry me through the end of my regimen which ends on March 29 or 30. At the time of this post, my infusion is flowing freely and quickly, so I am quite happy about that.

In addition to my current and abating ankle infections, I am still gaining strength from recent surgeries. I hope to soon be able to walk again without any physical support.

March 2022: quadruple coronary artery bypass surgery (including removal of vein in left thigh for procedure)

May 2022: TWO chest surgeries (loose screws; chest infection)

September 2023: spinal surgery (disk infection)

October 2023: another spinal surgery (bone infection; attachment of metal rod to "collapsing" spine)

Fairly Recently: nasal-sinus surgery; and four surgeries on my left foot for the removal of bone, bone fragments, scar tissue, and a benign tumor growing within a diabetic ulcer

In mid-2023, I was on a six-week-long regimen for a possible bone infection in my right ankle within two recent fractures, so that coupled with my spine, my regimen was extended to thirteen weeks (five, six, and an additional two).

As I have mentioned, I have used PICC lines and the shorter midlines many times. One complication that recently arose is:

After an X-ray and a CT scan of my chest, it was determined that I have a six-inch-long "wire" about the width of a hair embedded in a blood vessel between my heart and my lung. Another CT scan (this time with contrast) and then another test which involved the insertion of a camera into the right side of my groin to look at the blood vessel between my heart and my lung determined that the best course of action was and is for doctors to leave it there rather than to cut me open to remove it. It does NOT seem to be the cause of my recurring infections because my body has since coated it.

The wire is either a broken part of one of my many PICC lines over recent years or a guide wire that was broken when installing one of my many PICC lines.

NOTE: Although similar, the tube shown in this photo is for oxygen, not infusions.