I haven’t had a chance to sit down at my computer until now to tell you that the placement of Doug’s central line went well.
We first checked into the clinic for a chest X-ray and labs because Doug had been battling a bit of pneumonia and a cough. He’d been on an antibiotic so the team wanted to be sure he had cleared up enough to proceed as planned. Because we had to wait to be seen and wait after for test results we were an hour later than scheduled to be at St. Paul’s hospital for the surgery. Doug did get the OK from Dr. Collins and we are now on the next leg of our journey to fight back.
I’ve asked Doug to dictate to me the happenings of the next few hours as obviously I was not with him in surgery.
Doug: “They gave me one of those all-to-familiar hospital gowns and put me in a bed in a surgery “hold” room. I was asked at least three times who I was even though I had an arm band on with my name on it that they looked at each time. I wasn't sure I wanted people working on me who couldn't read :-)
A real nice hippy-looking type fellow came in and told me he was going to be my nurse. We chatted and he told me he had been a nurse for 20 years in various hospitals in Dallas. Then a Korean female nurse came in who said she’d be checking in on me. She told me what was going to happen and apologized that the surgeon was in a long procedure but that I would be next.
I was wheeled into the OR and prepped. They put a paper drape over my body--including my head—so that I wouldn’t be able to see them working on my chest. That was probably a good idea!
They gave me a local injection in my chest (Lanacane _sp?) and began the procedure. I was awake, talking and joking with the folk which they told me they appreciated. I felt no pain.
I now have a hole in the right side of my chest. (Think don’t hug me there) with a line that goes up into my neck and then makes a 180 degree turn down into my heart. From the internal line three clamped tubes come out and hang down on my chest approximately 4 inches. Carole refers to them as my straws. The good news is that I don’t have to get poked and prodded every time they draw my blood for lab work.
They use these three tubes to draw blood or to infuse liquids and medications including chemo drugs. They will also be used to harvest my stem cells, give the grand slam chemo, and infuse my stem cells back into my blood stream. It is my job to treat my filling station with the greatest respect and care! (Of note is that the three clamps are red, white and blue.)
They put a large dressing on the area then wheeled me back into the holding area bed to watch me for an hour. I had not eaten the day before so they gave me a sandwich and an apple which I enjoyed. After 1 hour I was put into a wheel chair and taken out to our car.
Like other Dallas and Fort Worth worthies, I now have my own personal driver. Her name is Carole!”
~ Doug and Carole
PS During the month of May I'll be using the date as the label of the post to make it easier to follow the day-to-day treatment process.
