When my daughter was in the hospital, she had so many tubes going in and out of her it was hard to tell which tube was doing what. At one point, the quantity of IVs became so great that the doctors recommended that a PICC (peripherally inserted central catheter) be inserted. The IV is really long. It gets inserted in a peripheral vein, but it is advanced until it almost reaches the patients heart.
A PICC line has many advantages. First, it can remain inserted for up to thirty days whereas traditional IVs must be replaced after only a few days. Every time an IV is removed and a new one is inserted, the patient is susceptible to dangerous infections such as MRSA. Plus, there is also the discomfort of being stuck with needles every few days.
There are disadvantages to PICC lines, however, that need to be considered. First, they are very difficult to insert. At our hospital, there were only two nurses who were trained to do it. Often times, the attempt fails rendering the vein unusable. This is further magnified by the fact that there are only a few places where you can insert the PIC. Additionally, any time a foreign object comes in close proximity to your heart, there are obvious risks to consider.
My wife and I fretted over the decision for an entire day and one sleepless night before giving the OK to insert the PICC line. We not only had faith in the science, but we also trusted our doctors to only recommend the absolute best course of action. In Lily’s case, they decided that the best place to insert the PICC was her head. Luckily, they were able to insert it successfully. However after only two days, when they were moving her after one of her surgeries, the nurse got distracted and the PICC line got snagged and was accidentally pulled out.
When the doctor informed us what had happened, I was furious. However, that night I remembered a show I had seen one time. A reporter was interviewing a mother whose daughter had been murdered. The mother said that as hard as it was, she had to find a way to forgive her daughter’s killer, because until she did, he still had control over her.
Granted, my own situation was nowhere near as extreme as hers, but I knew that I had to forgive the nurse in order to move forward and stay positive. And that’s exactly what I did.
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