What a difference a nurse can make! Once a week I have blood drawn and the dressing changed on the PICC. Today was the day for the fun. Debbie drew my blood when I got to the treatment center this morning. No big deal, considering it's done through the PICC so I don't feel a thing. We were chatting while she was taking the blood, and I told her that the area had started itching over the weekend. I also mentioned that it still felt bruised, although it was tolerable.
Toward the end of my treatment, Debbie started to do my dressing change. I told her how much it had hurt last week when the other nurse took the tape off. Thankfully, she used alcohol swabs to help ease the tape off. She also grumbled when she saw how much tape the other nurse had used. As she was taking everything off, we realized why it had been hurting so much all week. There was a scab around the end of the PICC that was not only stuck to me, but was also stuck to the gauze. Every time I moved, it was pulling my skin instead of moving freely.
Debbie cleaned everything off and made sure that there was no more bleeding. She used much less tape, and a hypo-allergenic tape window so hopefully I won't have any itching this time. I swear, the pain was nearly gone once she got it all back together properly. I told her that she's doing my dressing changes from now on. : )
In other news, my fever is back today. Although I've regained some of my energy, this is all still very draining especially since I'm trying to fit a full time job in at the same time. And, even though the snow hasn't finished melting yet, it looks like allergy season has begun!
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