Update

I was scheduled to see my OB tomorrow to have him look at my rashes and see if they are getting better. He called this morning to see how I was doing with my new PICC and to check on the rashes. I told him they were both not looking great and painful. He ended up getting me an appointment with a dermatologist within the hour- he is great! So I went to the dermatologist and he is 99% certain it is not shingles but wants me to keep taking the medicine anyway just in case. He was pretty sure the rashes are contact related- in other words an allergic reaction to something I have been in contact with. He was pretty confident it is all PICC related. He gave me a prescription for oral steroids (prednisone- after okaying with my OB) and topical steroids, as well as a soak that I can use on my neck twice a day. He was pretty shocked by how bad the rashes had gotten and said he knew I had to be in a lot of pain. He was hopeful that I will be seeing improvement in 2-3 days with the rash completely clearing up in a week or so! Yay! Great news. Right now I dont feel like I can even go in public because it honestly looks so awful. I feel so blessed to have such an amazing OB that goes the extra mile to make sure I am doing okay. When he called me this morning he said he researched for several hours last night to try to figure out what was happening with my rashes and just didn't feel confident and was worried so he wanted someone else to see me. I joke that we have each other on speed dial since we have talked more in 13 weeks than I am guessing most patients talk to their doctors the whole pregnancy!

I must say, I kind of feel like I am a walking pharmacy right now! I am on 4 prescription meds daily ranging from 1-4 pills a day, a neck soak, a prescription cream, twice daily ivs and injectable meds! Yikes! It should all calm down in two weeks when I will be off all but the ivs and nausea meds.

Here are some new pics for today. First is my right arm that had the PICC removed. I got to take off the bandage today and it is looking pretty gross. Besides the rash you can see the red raised area where the line went in. I am guessing that is infection.

And then there is my neck. This is what it looks like today. I warn you- it is gross :(

Here's to hoping that things are turning a corner! In a few weeks I should be a new girl! :) My mom took me to get a pedicure today which was just the right medicine. It felt SO good to be out of the house and doing something besides a doctor's appointment and my feet look great.: )

And it continues...

Sigh. One of these days I will have a happy post to share. Yesterday amidst all of the rash craziness, I also noticed that the bandage over my PICC was damp after getting an IV. I mentioned it to my doctor but he said it was probably just sweat and not to worry about it. I didn't really think that was what it was but to be honest I have been so overwhelmed with everything and this rash is just so bad that I just focused on that. Well this morning, I was getting my IV and I get 1000 ml at a time. At about 600, I noticed that my bandage felt wet again. I had Jeff come feel and he agreed that it was definitely wet and cold- not sweat for sure! A few minutes later, drops of water started dripping off the bandage onto the couch so I knew for sure I wasn't making it up. I pulled my bandage back to look and there was water coming out of the hole in my arm where the line goes in! Gross I know. So I stopped the IV and thankfully, my home nurse was already scheduled to come in a few minutes to change my bandage due to the arm irritation I have. Well she came and I showed her the wet bandage and she was like "Oh that isn't good." She checked the line but everything seemed well connected and there were no signs that anything was wrong. So she flushed the line with saline and it didnt seem to leak. Hmm. Well a second later, some reddish water came out of my arm- fluid mixed with blood. NOT good.

So she immediately called my doctor who was in surgery. They had a nurse go in and talk to him while he was in surgery and she relayed information. He said to pull the PICC immediately because obviously fluid leaking into my tissue is not good. I about panicked when the nurse said she was going to pull the line out right then and there at my kitchen table. She promised it would not hurt but I have bad anxiety every since the awful experience of getting my PICC in. She had me take a deep breath and pulled and out came the 20 inches of catheter. EW! Such a strange feeling. She checked it over and found a tiny hole about two inches up the line that was up in my arm. That was the culprit. So she bandaged the arm and put some betadine on to help my arm seal up. It now looks like this until tomorrow:

You can also see what the rash looks like on my arm. I think it is slowly getting better so it must have had something to do with the netting that was on my arm. It is hard to see in the picture but you can get the idea- lots of red, itchy bumps.

So now my right arm is PICC free but bandaged and recovering from a rash. On to the left arm. I was sent to the hospital this afternoon to get a second PICC put into my other arm. I had a lot of anxiety about it just because the first time was SO painful and took several tries. My nurse described the procedure as basically trying to shove something the size of a ballpoint pen up your arm so you can imagine the pain. The first time around I did not recieve any numbing medication. This time I was sent to radiology at Methodist and they used an ultrasound machine to find a vein. The nurse warned me that my vein and artery are very close together and that it was likely that she would hit a nerve during the procedure which would be very painful. Yikes. She did give me Lidocane (sp?) to numb the area and that did help for the inital poke. I could still feel it but not near like last time. The rest of the procedure was pretty painful though. She had to push REALLY hard to get the line in and the left side is a bit more complicated because you have to kind of bend the line around the heart. After the procedure was done, I was sent to have another chest xray and it showed that it was placed correctly. Then I could go home. :) I am home and resting now while getting IV fluids. My arm is very sore right now but that should go away in 48 hours or so. This PICC is placed up higher on my arm so hoping that will help not to have it right where my arm bends. That is the side I hold Ella on though so I have to get used to holding her on the right now. :) If you get a minute and would like to say a prayer that this PICC is a keeper and that my horrible rash heals soon, I could certainly use it. I will update more after my appointment on Friday and this time I hope it is with GOOD news!

Problems and More Problems

Well it has been a rough few days. I went to my doctor yesterday to have him look at the rash on my arm and the rash on my neck. The good news is that it didn't seem to be infected. The rash on my arm seems to be a skin irritation of some sort. What it is caused by we can't be sure- could be the bandage, could be the alcohol it is cleaned with, could be the netting used to hold my line. The area around the site where the line goes into my arm was still pretty red and swollen though so the doctor said he wanted to watch it.

On to my neck. Here is what my rash looked like Monday:

And here is what it looks like now- it started really itchy and red and then became painful blisters. Now it is crusting over (ick)

Anyway, the doctor took a look at it and had no idea what to think. He had another doctor come in to look and basically they think it is either shingles or a staph infection. Shingles apparently can be stress related and the staph infection could be from my PICC. So for now I am being treated for both. So in addition to the Zofran I take 4 times daily for nausea, I am taking another antibiotic 4 times a day and another once a day. Plus the two ivs daily. :) I have a doctor's appointment Friday morning for him to look at the rash again and see if it is healing at all. If not, not sure what the next course of action is. I am praying that the grossness of the crustiness/blisters draining is a sign of getting better but it certainly still looks awful!

PICC rash

Well today my nurse came for her weekly visit to change the PICC dressing. I mentioned to her that my arm has been crazy itchy and showed her the rash around the edge of the bandage. She took a look and said that it wasn't normal and then took off the bandage. Yikes. There was quite the rash under the dressing with the worst right where the line enters my arm. So she said that I may be allergic to the adhesive and put a different type of dressing on me after cleaning the rash with alcohol- OUCH! Unfortunately since this type of dressing isn't see-through my nurse will need to come twice a week to change the dressing since I am unable to see the site and watch for signs of infection. To make matters more interesting I have also developed an awful rash on my neck on the same side as my PICC. I showed my nurse and she wasnt sure to make of it and told me to call my doctor. So I went ahead and called and the doctor was a bit concerned since my rash starts right above the collar bone which is where the catheter runs through the vein. He is optimistic that it is just a coincidence that I have the rash since it is spreading up my neck and not down my chest but is slightly worried that it is a sign of infection. He wants to see me tomorrow and check it out. I pray that it is not an infection because if it is, the line needs to come out immediately and can be pretty serious. That would mean getting a PICC in the other arm which makes me want to cry. I am thinking since it is more itchy than painful and spreading the other direction, it is just an allergic reaction but I hope we can get this figured out soon!

Growing a Grinstead

As most of you know, Jeff and I are excitedly expecting our second baby! Due date is February 2nd and we just hit the 12 week mark. Miss Ella will be a great big sister! Unfortunately this pregnancy hasn't started off so smoothly as I have been diagnosed with Hyperemesis Gravidarium which is basically severe nausea and vomiting in pregnancy leading to weight loss and dehydration. Looking back, I should have known I was in for it when I started throwing up even before I got a positive pregnancy test around 4 weeks. I had been sick with Ella so I figured it was just starting up earlier this time. Unfortunately, things got progressively worse and by 5 weeks I was miserable. I wasn't scheduled for my first OB appointment for 3 more weeks but called in asking what to do and they prescribed Zofran, which is an anti nausea medication that is often used to combat sickness in chemotherapy patients. I began taking Zofran which helped a bit with the vomiting but didn't touch my 24/7 nausea.

The best way I can describe how I was (and still am) feeling is like the worst stomach flu you have ever had for the past two months. There have been days that I have vomited upwards of ten times and I have my good days where I only throw up once or twice. The nausea is the worst part because it NEVER lets up and the only time that I really feel okay is if I am laying down- not so easy when you have an eighteen month old to chase after! Luckily my mom and mother in law have been amazing and have made sure that Miss Ella gets plenty of special attention since Mommy can't quite hold up her end of the bargain. Most days I lay on the ground next to Ella as she plays and she has learned to bring her toys to me. :) I think emotionally, that has been the hardest part of this whole experience- not being able to care for Ella the way I should. I had such high hopes for this summer of doing all this fun stuff with my little girl and, well, that just isn't in the cards right now.

When I went for my 8 week appointment I was down about 10 pounds and just miserable. I was hardly able to keep anything down, especially fluids and was so dizzy with bad headaches. The doctor sent me to the hospital that day for IV fluids which helped the dizziness quite a bit. Unfortunately, a few weeks later I was back in again because I am unable to keep water down and can only drink a few sips here and there or it is immediate vomiting. Once I started keeping track I realized that I was only drinking 8-10 oz a day- maybe 20 ounces on a really good day once every few weeks. So the IV fluids would help for a day or two and then I would go back into my dehydration mode which just feels awful. I have been so weak and exhausted and just plain NOT feeling good. I called again expecting to head in for another round of IV fluids, but the doctor had different plans and suggested I get a PICC line. A PICC is a catheter that is inserted in the crook of my arm and is about 20 inches long- it goes up my arm and down into my chest near my heart. It remains there semi permanently so that I am able to hook myself up at home to IV fluids. Home health care set me up with all my supplies and Jeff and I learned how to hook up and administer the IV medication. The home health care nurse comes once a week to change the dressings on my line and check my vitals/do bloodwork.

Today I had my 12 week appointment which included an ultrasound which was amazing. Baby was just so darn cute in there flipping, flopping and waving. Little peanut made getting measurements pretty tricky but the tech finally got what she needed. Then I met with the doctor and he decided that I need more fluids so I will now be doing two IVs a day- once in the morning and once at night. Sigh. But I know it is what is best for baby and myself. Thank goodness it is summer and I am off work. In the end, I know that I will be rewarded with an amazing little blessing so that is what keeps me going on the hard days. :)