After the good news below, the next thing that comes to your mind is please remove me the Hickman line. This is probably the last link you have to the chemo and the soon you get it out the more relieved you are.
Having gone through intrathecals, bone marrow exams and the set up of the line itself I could only conceive that removing the line would be a piece of cake. Well...by the time the doctor finished explaining what was going to happen I was giving her a shy smile..hiding my apprehension. She smiled as well as we understood that it was going to be "fun".
While the set up of the line is made with an X-ray team, local anesthetics and so on, the removal is literally a doctor trying to pull it out!!! Now, you should note that due to the time you live with the line, the tube becomes attached to your tissue and skin, which indeed allows the line to be well sealed in your chest.
The process starts with the doctor giving you local anesthetics. Then cutting the skin around the line. Then giving more anesthetics in order to push the tissue back with a scissor before pulling the line out. And the line...it was bigger than I expected. It is good not to know it in advanced, otherwise I could not live peacefully with it. I am not the type of complaining with little procedures/pain, but this one was a bit over the top...and I didn't complain. The doctor is literally centimeters away of your face, opening your chest. There is blood everywhere (that she cleans immediately). Once finished you see a cut (not big, but not very smallish either). I made the point nicely that my chest had been ruined, but she says it will be a little and beautiful scar. The worst was to come. Bit painful once the anesthetics effect is gone and any movement causes pain. They gave me no painkillers, but I had a glass of red wine at lunch...just to alleviate the pain. Lol
01/02/2010
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6 comments:
Migu;
Estou muito contente e aliviada!!muito aliviada.Cuida bem de ti!beijinhos
Mi
cuidarei para que o bicho nao ataque de novo. :-)
Sorry for the pain, but somehow glad because the pain in removing it means you don't need it anymore! I hope you heal quickly and the scar is truly minute.
Of course if it's huge, you can always show it off around the office.
... devo dizer que passei este post à frente, porque é too graphic ...
kathie good idea, to show it in the office as a mark of war. lol
o sinapse nao sejas maricas.
As my line had only been in for 3 weeks i thought it would be a couple of snips and pull it out. How wrong was i. It took nearly 2 hours of snipping and pulling and gouging. It had well and truly healed ( my tissue i mean ) round the beast. Then 6 stiches later i was done. xx
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