My PICC Line Made a Break for It

As I have explained in a previous post, I have a nurse come in every week to change the dressing on my PICC line.  Over time, I have noticed that the length of the line sticking out of my arm has gradually increased from 6 cm to about 7.5.  Yesterday, as the nurse was removing the old dressing, we both saw the PICC line jump out a bit.  When she measured the line, it was at 11 cm!  Time to call the hospital's PICC Team.

This morning the PICC Team called back and scheduled me for a 9:30 chest X-ray.  It showed that the line had indeed moved.  It was good enough to be used for my 10:30 chemotherapy today, but not good enough to keep using.  Once my chemo finished this afternoon, the nurse just pulled the line out.  My Sweetiepie had to move away for this -- it wasn't something he wanted to see.  I thought it was kinda cool.

Now I'm waiting for the hospital to schedule me for a reinsertion of the PICC line, since I still have a fair bit of chemo ahead of me.  In the meantime, I will enjoy the luxury of showering without a plastic sleeve.  That left arm is going to get a good, long scrubbing!