New today is a ‘midline catheter’. I wonder why they don’t call it an MLC? Almost everything is known by acronym. It’s maddening. And I think it should be a mid-length catheter – but I didn’t get to name it.
Catheters are short or long tubes that can be inserted into the body, in this case Nancy’s, for the injection of fluids. Thus, she gets one poke that will do for many days rather than multiple pokes. The down side is that you have the end sticking out and taped to your skin – often in an awkward place.
The midline catheter usually goes in on the arm near the elbow joint and runs up into the area just short of the axilla or near where the arm connects to the shoulder. I’ll get a look tomorrow.
Nancy had a PICC line (peripherally inserted central catheter) inserted last summer. That story began in April and you can search for endocarditis to catch up. Nancy had four different bacteria in her blood and the protocol was for 28 days of injections of about 30 minutes. That line went from about the same location near the elbow into the artery near her heart and so the medicine was released close to where it was needed.
Today, I was there for lunch and visits by a nutritionist and a social services case manager. The case manager gave us a large 3-ring binder with reading material designed to guide us through the recovery period, especially that time after Nancy leaves the hospital. There is also a section on pre-operation instructions and one on how to quit smoking. I’m thinking of buying a parakeet so I’ll have something to do with those pages.