A new day a new worry. Yesterday I survived but I don't think I will have the same luck today. Sure enough a nurse came with the stainless steel tray. In it was my nemesis, rocephine two whoopass syringes worth. Big syringes. This was the second day of my IV line so it should not be that painful. So in it went. It did have the tinglings of pain. Not sure If I can have too many today. Then I find out that it's going to be a once a day event. So this was a relief but 2 shots at once was not going to make it better.
Rocephine is an antibiotic. Administered only via needles, no pills. It's supposed to be effective. This used to scare me every 6:30am for my morning shots. What a way to wake up.
So the next day arrives. 11:30 am, medicine time. Now I'm anxious. The nurse comes with a drip (chamber they call it). I ask what's this? She says rocephine. Great! The drip is nice and slow. Yes it was good, it was painless. Thank god.
The 5th or so day later a nurse came with the stainless steel tray. I knew this was not the drip but the double barrel. I ask where's the drip? She basically replied, bah humbug. Since she was the more senior nurses I was not going to get away with being cute. So I just have to lump it. It started to hurt. It got more and more, just tried to ignore it then I felt the pain reached a point where it popped. I hope nothing 'popped' in there. Damn it was hurting, when I looked it was only half way through the first syringe! Then the first syringe reached the end. I can't remember saying anything but she then left without giving the other shot. I wasn't sad but I was disappointed in missing a dose.
Using the drip the IV line (the pipe/tap) lasted almost 9 days. The 9nth day the drip just wouldn't flow and the nurse said it had to go. I hated that, it would mean...my other hand was going to get it. The left hand felt less sensitive but the right felt more sensitive.
A trainee nurse came with one syringe. I cowed away and said where's it evil twin brother? She said the staff nurse wanted to give 1g shots. I said I wanted the drip. "Staff nurse". The staff nurse came, I said I want the drip. She asks why, I said it hurts like hell that thing. She looks at the IV line and said maybe it's time to tap a new line. I think to myself yeah sure, easy for you to say, I hate that thing. Maybe she should get some of the same medicine :). She said the drip (chamber) is only for 2g or more doses. I said okay why not gimme 1g in drip then topup? She said no way. Then I asked for the 2g doses. Better the once a day painless drip than the slow death of 2 shots per day via syringe.
Today a doctor came with a tray. Hmm seems I wasn't due for my shots. No this was a blood sample. I said sure, I have a multi purpose pipe just here. She said no no no, thats contaminated by medicine and the blood may have clots. It will have to come from a fresh source. Man I hate needles. I've had blood taken before, it felt like your arm is sucked up like being sucked by a vacuum. She jabs that thing in, took some blood and it was over. It wasn't that bad.
The right hand only lasted 4 days. The nurse said it was swollen, I said give it a go the other hand lasted 8 days. She still said nope it had to go. Oh man. I know it hurts less than putting up with the existing line but what can I do. I wanted it to last because I didn't know how long I was going to be here and how many veins do I have? If it's gonna last 4 days and I stay 2 or 3 weeks I will need 5 changes. No way!
The doctor came. She strapped my hand with a rubber glove to help the veins pop up. Many uses these gloves. Can even be used to hold ice and placed on necessary areas of the body. Anyways she starts tapping the bottom of the left hand above my pinky to help it swell. I look at it. The veins there are small and not very straight. She is brave to try this. I close my eyes. I felt it go in. Don't know what's going on then she made the tsk sound. This can't be good and I felt the tap go out. I know it did not succeed and I was going to get another attempt. Man. I opened my eyes and see an ant hill on the back of my left hand. She tried to inject some fluid (sodium chloride I think ie salt water) but did not go through the vein but accumulated where it went in. Well now I know what happens when an attempt fails. She's pressing on it to make it dissipate. What a shocker but not as bad as what she was going to do next. She started tapping the area behind the thumb. I look at it and ask if you could see it, is there anything there. She said yeah. I close my eyes again. This time it hurts because the skin is thicker there. Usually it's not this bad as the places I have had it on before was on thin skinned areas. This felt deep. She tested the line and I did feel it go in as with the other areas. Maybe she does know something, maybe it was a bigger vein. Who cares, it was over. I ask about removing the other line but the nurse said she will do it. The line is actually a small plastic tube the needle just help it to go into the skin.
Later I find that this line isn't bad. The installation was uncomfortable but the usage was good. It was quite painless. But I still felt that the nurses were playing games with me. Trying to torture me with the syringe or the drip. I always feel anxious at medicine time because of this.
