My IV Antibiotics

I thought folks would be interested in the cool delivery method for my antibiotic IV medicine. Pictured on the left is one of the "grenades" that I wrote about in an earlier post.

It's a really ingenious design. In the center there is a hollow plastic tube that runs from the white cap on the top to the white cap on the bottom. There is an outer plastic liner and an inner rubber one. The inner liner is like a balloon that actually holds the medicine (probably surgical tubing or some other strong rubber). Before I hook it up and un-clamp it the inner and outer liners are the same size and the grenade is perfectly round. This picture shows it after a good amount of medicine is already out of it.
Since the inner liner is stretched when they fill it with medicine it is squeezed out when you release the pressure by un-clamping the hose that I hook to my PICC line (catheter). The clamp is next to my thumb in the picture. Just to the right of that is little disc that the medicine flows through. It is basically a flow valve that controls the rate that the medicine flows through the line. Since the medicine is under pressure and the flow rate is controlled by that little disc there is no need to hang the medicine like they do in the hospital or have the computerized pump to control how fast you get the medicine. I usually just sit the grenade next to my leg on the couch while I'm hooked up, but if I have to get up I can just put it in my pocket and use my walker without having to drag a pole along with me. Pretty much anyone whose ever been in the hospital (or visited someone else) knows about dragging the pole on wheels along with you to the bathroom or down the hall. What a pain that is! This is so much easier.

You can barely tell that I am actually hooked up and receiving medicine in this picture taken this morning of me and Allison. Becky brought Allison by for a visit today on her way to pre-school. Doesn't she look cute in her homemade pumpkin tie-dye t-shirt? The white armband is actually a cut off tube sock that I wear to keep the PICC line covered and the tubes tucked up and out of the way when I'm not getting my medicine.

Speaking of my PICC line I had a bit of a scare yesterday. Because the PICC line is a direct route from my bicep to my heart I was told by the nurse to be very careful about getting it dirty or wet, unless I had a death wish - which I do not. So the only complication to me being cleared to shower by the doctor on Wednesday was keeping that area dry in the process. So with dad's help I wrapped my upper arm in a garbage bag and a bunch of duct tape and happily took a shower. As I dried myself off I removed the tape and plastic to find that the tube sock arm band was soaked. The area is covered with cellophane and tape by the nurse, but I still started to panic because I could see that some moisture had gotten under that. All I could think was "that was a nice shower, but not worth dying for!" I called Wendy, the home care nurse who came out within the hour to re sterilize and re-bandage the site. She wasn't thrilled with my timing since it was the end of the work day and I interrupted the beginning of her three day weekend, but she was very good natured and reassuring. She also put a lot of extra tape on it this time and told me to use lots of saran wrap before the garbage bag and duct tape next time.