One Step Back...

My line lasted me 6 days.  I got it last Friday, and it was yanked today.  For those 4 or 5 hours on Monday during chemotherapy, though, it was a glorious thing.


As I noted previously, my skin was having a very difficult time with the bandaging.  Is this a tape allergy?  Is this more skin-related problems due to Hodgkin's?   I honestly have no idea, but it was clearly getting worse.  Each dressing change was becoming more and more painful, and when I called oncology yesterday, they set up an appointment for today, which I spent the day dreading, knowing it meant I'd need the tape yanked again.  (And more!)


The nurse who saw us today also saw us on Monday.  She was impressed with how much worse things got in just a few days.  Under the tape, I now have tons of little wounds or sores, some of which have been bleeding a little.  The oncologist on call didn't even have to physically see me to tell them to take the line out due to infection risk.   I couldn't conceivably keep it dressed, and to keep it open was a pretty big risk.


And just like that, in no time at all, my line is gone.   It is pretty difficult to think of today as anything but a step backwards.


One of Sarah's nurse practitioner friends had wisely suggested wrapping it with a Coban dressing.  This is a product that is only adhesive to itself, not to skin.  This would require wrapping it completely around my chest and shoulder, but at this point, I thought the suggestion was absolutely brilliant.   However, my dressing site was apparently far too scary to salvage, and the risk of keeping the line outweighed its benefits.


So, the plan is to discuss this again with my oncologist when she returns next week.  The nurse thought I might be a candidate for a Hickman, as it may not need as intensive dressing care as the Hohn after the initial two weeks.  Obviously Sarah and I are concerned with how to even get through those initial two weeks.   Perhaps we can consider the "Coban solution" immediately before problems begin.  The real bummer is we'll likely get to spend another entire day in the hospital getting the line, potentially next week.


The one downside however, is that I do now have a "Coban body wrap" on my chest to hold on the dressing from my old line site.  It needs to stay for 24 hours.   The only downside to this is that I'm already nauseated, and the stuff does not smell pleasant at all.   Apparently, nothing comes easy in the world of cancer treatment.


Thursdays after chemotherapy are very rapidly becoming my least favorite day of the whole 2 week process.  Today definitely reinforced that.  However, as I've noted before, it is like a night and day difference between "on Thursday" and "off Thursday."  The bright side is that in only a few more days,  things will look up again.