Well, one more wire is gone! They took out his IV lines from his neck yesterday afternoon and accessed his Medi-Port in his chest. They were able to do this because he is finally off his 24/7 anti-rejection IV that couldn't be mixed with any other IV drug (he will now take it orally for the rest of his life - pretty sure). He has had his current Port for about 5 to 6 years now and if anyone has seen him without his shirt, you've seen the Port, it kind of sticks out. IV services comes in to access it and couldn't find it! He is so swollen...the lady kept pressing on his chest and Graham's eyes kept bulging out - he was so patient. She ended up calling another Nurse to help. They decided on using a 1inch needle instead of a 3/4 inch like he normally uses because of his swelling (come to find out later, they used 3/4 inch????). After about 30 - 45 minutes, they had his Port accessed and the neck line out. Ahhh, relief. He was also excited that he was to stay in bed for 30 minutes and not move. I was going to make him walk the halls and eat, lucky dog.
But after some rest and lunch, Graham became Star Patient! He walked for me (5 laps), did his Peak/Flow machine, and took the rest of his Meds. He earned a well deserved dose of Morphine and a nap. I woke him up about 7:30pm to start this procedure all over again, but all the Nurses and Respiratory Therapists beat me to it. So he was hooked up with breathing treatments and IVs and potty breaks for awhile. Well, so we hoped. His evening Nurse came in to flush his Port and start up another round of IVs and found that he couldn't. You could see the muscles in the Nurse's arms trying to force the saline through, but it wouldn't go. Graham informed him that he's always used Heparin or it will clot really fast. But (falling under the category "you learn something new everyday") you can't use Heparin with post transplant patients...for several reasons dealing with blood - so of course I start getting queasy and begin to ignore. Well, IV services closes at 7:00 pm, Nurses aren't aloud to access ports, his veins can't hold an IV, AND HIS IVs ARE ALL TIME ORIENTED and there is nooooo line. So Graham asks for the Charge Nurse, well, his evening Nurse takes it offensively (he's been a Charge Nurse, he can handle it...blah blah blah) but still brings the other Nurse in. They decide to do an All Call for anyone with the credentials to access a port, and in comes the sweetest, best port accessor, Oncology Nurse (I liked her!) who gets the job done in stellar time (this is where we found out the geniuses before used a 3/4 inch needle) and used Heparin to see if she could get blood draw from it. It was a no, but it was accessed and stress was over (appetite gone, but IVs were in!).
When his "Holier than Thou" evening nurse came back in, we asked if he could be hooked up to Saline when no antibiotics were being ran through...oh the look we got! But he caved - only after stating that he thought of it before us.
Ok, I am a VERY patient person and I was losing it. If you have met Graham, I'm sure you can only imagine. But I am so proud of him. He just kept on taking deep breaths (only turned red faced once) and speaking calmly. Never once became rude or unpleasant. He vented after his nurse left, but kept his cool in front of "Nurse of the Year!"
So far today he is having much of the same day as yesterday. It is becoming very hard for him to eat or swallow because of the swelling and access gas. But is continuing to walk and move around to try and help it all go away.
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