#ceftriaxone

First what to expect when you get it done:

It’s a simple procedure, don’t stress. They will numb the injection sight but that’s pretty much it.  They use a x-ray to help them guide the tube to where it needs to be, your arm will probs be yellow after for a few days especially since you can't get it wet

It’s gonna hurt when the drugs wear off. THIS IS NORMAL!! I stress because nobody told me that was to be expected and all of the literature tells you to be super concerned if it ever hurts but the first day or so, it’s probably fine. You can put an ice pack or a heating pad on it. 

Next actually taking the medication

So I know there are at least three different ways you can get medication. I used a fairly simple one called push I believe.  I took ceftriaxone, so if your doctor or nurse has already said something about gravity or bubble you can skip this.

The basics are that you flush with saline, then start your medication, pushing just a tiny bit every minute, the flush with more saline then end with heparin.  You will want to swab the port with an alcohol swab before each syringe twisting for 10 seconds.

To “close” your PICC line when you are done pinch the thing that looks like a “sleigh” close so it is pinching your line

I used to two different schedules first I did this daily then after I wound up doing it twice a day for four days a  week then taking the weekends off and simply flushing with saline and heparin. When I was just flushing I could do it anytime during the day but the medication had to be taken exactly 24 hrs or 12 hrs apart

PS Hopefully a nurse will come to your house and explain this to you because it’s necessary. 

Speaking of Nurses

Every week a nurse should come to your house and change your dressing.  She will also most likely check your vitals and take blood from your PICC. No extra poking involved! (You will most likely have to explain this at least half a dozen times to your family and friends before they remember it)

Two Dont’s

Don’t get it wet

Don’t lift more than a jug of milk with that arm

Ok so now for some Tips

1) Buy a shower sleeve or some sort of official waterproof dressing coverage.  It is so worth it.

2) Medisafe is a great app I highly recommend for keeping track of your meds.  a little tip if your meds are refrigerated I would set my pill alarm to go off when I needed to take my medication out of the refrigerator to make sure I got the two alarms with out recording double doses

3) There are cute picc covers out there. The nicest I’ve seen are the PICC Perfect by mighty well

4) Don’t stress if you screw up a little, I did plenty and it turned out fine, obviously don’t skip a step on purpose and whenever you can fix your mistake but if you forget an alcohol wipe one day it will be ok

5) Call the nurses whenever you feel concerned it will be ok, they’ve probably heard the same questions before. I was convinced I was going to die because I took a tums the nurse was very nice when she explained that I was gonna be fine

6) If the stitches start to hurt, you may want to ask if you can get them taken out.  I wound up having to get mine taken out after three months, and I was pain for pretty much that entire time, the nurse had offered to see if she could do something before but I kept on trying to brush it off, after the PICC stopped hurting at all