Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Port Problems

Maria has a port for intravenous access because she has been getting immunoglobulin infusions every other week for the past several years (she has Myasthenia Gravis which is an autoimmune form of muscular dystrophy). In Michigan, we were blessed to have a wonderful nurse. The infusions take several hours so we had lots of time to get to know each other and we soon became friends. We still miss her. Just for the record, though, sometimes Maria's port gave Nurse Lisa problems too.

Fortunately, in Iowa there are also many good nurses and they do their best to take good care of Maria. Today, however, was just one of those days when everything is difficult. First, the nurse just wasn't able to access Maria's port. A second nurse tried, but still no success. Then they tried to work together to get the port accessed, but that only resulted in one nurse getting stuck with the used needle. So, it was off the hospital. Fortunately, there they were able to get access as well as the blood draws needed because the nurse got stuck with the needle.

Then the pump wasn't working properly, probably because the port was still being cranky. It kept beeping and stopping and generally giving everyone fits. They flushed the line, switched pumps, had Maria change positions, nothing seemed to work for long. It took the entire day, but thankfully she is finally "all juiced up" and ready to go again. Then, after she was all finished, Jon Felipe had a seizure. Nice of the two of them to take turns like that. All in all, a pretty normal day at the VanTol household. As for the port, hoping this doesn't mean she needs it replaced, although she has had this one for many years.

2 comments:

  1. Maria, So sorry to hear about your whole ordeal. I will pray that next week works just like old times! I miss you and pray you are having a great summer
    Nurse Vicki

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  2. Kathy, why would you expect anything different? Neither one wants to be outdone by the other!! I hope things go better with the port next time. One thing I could always count on with Maria is that the normal is there is no normal.

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