I had a surprise at my final pre-op that was on Monday, October 31. Anesthesia decided that since my veins were crap from my previous chemotherapy treatments, it would be safer for me if they installed a PICC line. I was familiar with this, as Ward had one during his battle with Crohn's, but I'd never had one. Being the big baby that I am, I was scared to death. I knew what the Anesthesiologist was silently saying. Although pain management was a huge factor in the placement of the PICC line, it wasn't the only reason. Should my lymph node dissection come back positive, I would be ready.
The actual placement of the PICC line wasn't too bad. It was done by the Radiology department and they were super fast! They geared up with gowns, masks and gloves while I lay on a table, draped with warm blankets. They tied my arm down and used an ultrasound to find the lucky vein. The worse part of the whole thing was when they injected Lidocane in my arm to numb it for the placement of the PICC line. Talk about BURN! It felt like my arm was on fire, but it only lasted a few seconds. I couldn't feel a thing after that.
I was watching the screen above my head. It was a "live" X-Ray of my chest. I watched this guy insert the PICC line tracer in my chest. He took a couple of still-shot images and then it was over.
I never felt any pain after the initial burn of the Lidocane, and I was able to do Halloween with the kids with minimal discomfort. It was, however, a physical reminder of what was to come the following day.
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