PICC line in

Today’s exciting journey was to IR to get a PICC line.  I was kindly persistent and succeeded in getting a double lumen PICC line!  That means there are two access points for meds or drawing blood.  ICU wanted a double lumen, but IR usually doesn’t like to place them.  She is on lots of drips for sedation in addition to a lasix drip.  The lasix is incompatible with the other meds, so it has to have it’s own access.  We were looking at getting the PICC, but then having to have a peripheral IV.  She loses those so quickly and is such a hard stick, that I really didn’t want to go there.  So I did a lot of talking in the IR and they were so kind to give us a double lumen PICC – wahoo!  No more heel pricks.  Yeah.  The ICU team was so pleased when we came back to our room!  Our journey up and down was less eventful – they knocked her flat first and then just bagged her till they put her on the anesthesiology machine downstairs.

Another change is we are finally weaning the nitric.  We are at 0.5 and looks like we’ll have that off by the time I go home today.  She is sating in the 90s and doing well.

Her blood pressure is better, but her lungs are hazy.  Wish I hadn’t been right yesterday.  Oh well.

To re-cap this week:  We have made some good progress.  Bella has gotten off the paralytic and will probably get off the Nitric.  She got a PICC line.  After what will hopefully be a quiet weekend, we will re-access her nutrition, making sure that it is optimized, plan for and probably have surgery, and try to come down on her O2 levels and PEEP.