Samsmom: Life, Joy, Loss and Loving your Mitochondria

Samantha’s PICC line was taken out today. Her PICC (otherwise known as a Peripherally Inserted Central Catheter) has been in her arm for seven weeks. Usually PICs are accessed for about 30 days so seven weeks was getting a little long.

Perhaps it was time….

I have bittersweet feelings about the PICC. It’s a direct line into her superior vena cava….if it gets infected it could turn into a blood infection and the line has to be flushed every night to keep things flowing correctly. You can’t get the site wet so a proper bath hasn’t happened….for seven weeks.

Stinky.

On the other hand, we have accessed it many, many times this Spring. It’s been so nice not to have to place an IV when she’s sick, to be able to hook her up to IV meds when she’s seizing and to run blood tests when her lipase is through the roof.

To PICC or not to PICC?

Samantha isn’t sick. She doesn’t need it (currently) so our fabulous Dr. E made the call…..Pull the PICC.

After knocking on a couple wood cabinets and an assurance that she is healthy, I too decided it was time to pull it.

Samantha seems to be happy with her arm back. She’s looking good isn’t she?

Here’s pre-pull and the entry to the line.

Post pull with only a band-aid!

I love it when we get to remove tubes and lines. Another little baby step on the road to recovery.

knock, knock, knock on wood 🙂