PICCs and "Bips"

2 Weeks
1 Nasty Infection

1 Cancelled 10 day trip to Cincinnati Children's Hospital

2 PICC Lines

2 Hospital Admissions

2 Late Night ER Trips
5 Dr's Appointments

10 Days of IV Meds
2 Medicine Deliveries

1 Home Health Nurse

4 Dressing Changes
4 X-rays
3 Babysitters From Kentucky
10 Meals Delivered
10-15 Bags of Lay's Potato "Bips"
6 Weary Family Members

On Monday, April 7, we prepped a zillion suitcases to be loaded into our Cincinnati Children's Hospital bound van.  This trip had been planned, prayed over and emotionally prepped for.  Our plan was to see 6 specialists over a period of ten days. 

Bladder surgery #2, just two weeks behind us, my mom had just left, taking Sophia with her, with a plan to meet up.  As we lined up those suitcases, the urologist called.  10 minutes later, we were making  cancellation phone calls, repacking bags and coordinating childcare.  More infection and US hospital admission #5 (&6).

 Before long, with suitcases still lining the hallway, we settled into room 243 for 10 days of IV antibiotics, well stocked with Lays "bips".  (Thanks, Aunt Jen!)

Visitors arrived on day 2!  No picture evidence, but sweet Aunt Janie came all the way from KY to help out with the kiddos and encourage the patient.  Also, Evie's amazing pal, Lucy, and her fabulous momma came by to bring smiles. 

 The second floor nurses are all pals now, so they loved our girl well, and are familiar with her stranger anxiety. 

The perk to being a frequent flyers is that you know how to bust your kid out of their room, and where to go to find some joy and beauty. 

We LOVE our local children's hospital and appreciate the endless ways that they make families comfy.  We can't say that we love their sleeper sofas or their oddly chefy meatloaf, but have massive gratitude to the nurses, techs, doctors, and child life specialists.  The love and care they show over and over again, day after day is immense.

 

On Tuesday, it was decided that Miss Evie needed to be out of the hospital and away from further infection risk.  In went a PICC line, and she rolled out of the hospital late Wednesday in a red wagon. 

Her siblings were extra happy to have her home, especially her biggest fan, Sophia, who had been in Kentucky waiting for us to drive up for the Cincy trip.   

 It felt a bit like we were finished, and we were ready for a long snooze, until the doorbell rang with a big box.

Then our WONDERFUL home health nurse arrived for PICC training.  We have logged it as 1.5 hours toward our nursing degree. 

Every eight hours, we gloved up, flushed the line and gave meds, crazy grateful for medical technology and the comfort of home.  Only concern, Evelyn's PICC arm was one giant, NASTY red rash.  Looking back, we never should have brought her home, because Thursday night, she scratched the PICC right out, so off to the ER we went. 

By 10:30, she was admitted and they brought us a meal in a brown paper sack.  First thing we found as we opened it?  Well, Lay's of course.  The patient prefers them classic flavored, but was quite pleased with her late night sour cream and onions.  She may or may not have scratched off the PICC with full understanding that hospital trips equal Lays potato "bips". 

The next morning, I left her sobbing and scared in a scary room full of gowned and masked nurses and a doctor who sedated her and inserted a new line.  With one look at her arm, the PICC nurses determined that she had had an allergic reaction to materials used in the other line. 

Eventually, we rolled out in another wagon, and made it back home to our people, happy to have it behind us. 

 

 Unfortunately, behind us didn't last long.  Her PICC dressing filled with blood so we text a picture to our nurse, who told us to head back to the ER.

Thankfully, they had Classic Lays this time, and after a dressing change and another X-ray, they arrived back home at 5AM. 

 

Our second week was filled with lots of appointments, meds every eight hours and the gift of more meals from friends. The dressing got bloody a few more times and we waffled with the nurse about another ER trip, but finally used parent intuition and stayed home.  The PICC process takes time and we had to keep her still, but it was an easy process.  She even had a dose in carpool two times, with some Lays as a distraction!

 

 Finally, on Friday after a couple tests, the PICC came out.  We'd gone to battle with bacteria and won!  Though she cries with ever nurse and doctor, Evelyn has been through so much and is just used to these procedures, which sadly helps.  We freely admit that this two weeks was particularly challenging, but God met us EVERY day. It was exhausting, but all doable. The hardest part was seeing our girl deal with poking and prodding over and over again.  We looked into her face as she sobbed and held her down far too many times.    Thankfully, our girl is the toughest person we know and has now moved on to normal two year old fun with crayons, Elmo and bubbles!

Giant thanks to mom, Janie, Madeline, Aunt Jen, Angela and lots of friends for all kinds of care.