Thursday, October 2, 2008

Mediport Schmediport

I thought this whole mediport thing was supposed to be a good thing? Don't get me wrong. It's come in handy when we are able to leave the hospital early and do IV meds and fluids through it. But when it doesn't work right, it is very, very frustrating.
The nurses accessed it at the hospital before we left. There was good blood return confirming that it was in and ready to go. By the time the Home Health nurse got to mom and dad's, it would flush great, but no blood return. Because she has been know to do this before, the nurse got the go ahead to start the fluids. No problem. We had an uneventful evening. This morning, however, her p.j.'s were starting to get wet just in the corner. Well, what could be causing that? Her mediport. I called Dr. T. He said go ahead an "de-access" her and have St. Jude take a look at that crazy thing.
I get that done and notice the swelling. This happened last time. The needle wasn't in her mediport, but was in her skin (or something like that). All the fluids...straight into her tissue. She's not as swollen as last time, so hopefully it hadn't been that way for long. Regardless, it's annoying. The little hole where the needle was leaks out little drops of water every once in a while. That's just weird.
Anyway, Mr. Mediport, we really like you...when you decide to work.
I'll update after the swallow study when I have access to a computer. Have a great, leak-free day!

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