Being Poked and Prodded

So I arrived at the hospital today at 2:30pm feeling, let's say, like shit. I had a fever, my bones hurt, my muscles hurt, my joints hurt, even my hair hurt. Due to rooming issues I had no room available for me when I arrived. I was given a blanket (since I had the chills) and a chair and sat in the alcove in the CF unit for a little over an hour. It pretty much sucked, but I didn't really have any other options. The staff were all fantastic, though. I do love them!

I felt so much better when I got to my room, but my excitement was dashed when the IV team arrived. Peripheral IV's are not my favorite. Especially since my veins ALWAYS roll and the phlebotomists always have to dig around for minute on end until they find the pesky little bugger. Yep, it happened this time too.

I noticed this morning that I have developed a rash all over my belly and arms. This is making it a bit more clear that all of my symptoms are a result of a reaction to the Cifoxitin, and not a virus or infection. So when I saw Dr. Dazzle I used all of the charm I could muster to try to convince him that my little PICCy friend should stay. I begged, I pleaded. I batted my eyelashes...but Dr. D convinced me that this was a necessary step we had to take just to remove all possibility that I have a PICC infection. Especially, since I now have just a teeny tiny immune system. So my PICC is now gone and I am grieving it's loss :-( Really, I am...because tomorrow I have to have a new one placed in the other arm. This is probably no big deal for some CFer's, but it takes me a hefty dose of Xanax and about and hour of mental preparation to get myself to a place where I can endure the procedure without being a complete basketcase. I think it's because it took them 3 tries of sticking that gynormous needle in my arm last time before they could thread it correctly. There are some gory pictures of what I went through a month ago when getting my sorely missed PICC.... I couldn't get them to load here due to the poor connection.

So, this PICC placement procedure is what I have to prepare for again tomorrow. This is what my dreams will be made of tonight. A few people have asked why I didn't get a port. Trust me, I've asked, several times. My docs just all agree that since I haven't needed IV's often in the past, that after this cycle of IV's they don't anticipate that I'll need them again for a good long time. I hope that's true, so I'm heading their advice for now.

If my fevers, aches and general sickness continue now that we removed my PICC, we know that the Cifoxitin is the culprit. However, we are going to try to mull through the IV and treat the symptoms. If they are nearly unbearable, we will just try to get 2 more weeks of the IV's in. If they are somewhat bearable, we will try for 4 more weeks. With needing to stop sooner than anticipated, we may end up revisiting IV Amikacin in the Spring.

I guess I was just sorta wishing that my body would be kind to an antibiotic for once. I was hoping that it would have been a good hostess, showing the good guys where to go and what to do to get rid of the bad guys...maybe without attacking me in the process...