Well, Hubby's finally home from the hospital, but I wouldn't say we are out of the woods just yet. For one thing, we now have a shelf in our refrigerator designated for "killer drugs". John will need to stay on his antibiotic cocktail for another five or six weeks -- the trade-off for not yanking his pacemaker out, I suppose. The best way to facilitate this is to have them being pumped into him continuously, via a PICC line in his upper arm.
They sent us home with this big ol' cooler full of supplies, which will be replenished once a week when we go back to Infectious Disease Doc's infusion lab to have blood drawn and dressings changed.
In addition to the drugs, we got saline syringes for flushing the lines, heparin syringes, all kinds of sterilizing equipment, plus an extra battery for the pump, in case we forget to recharge it. Between the PICC line, which can get kinks and clogs, and must be kept absolutely sterile; the pump, which is like a mini computer with alarms that go off; and the drugs, which come in bags that must be kept refrigerated, and need to be changed out right at the same time every day, well, that's a whole lot to learn and absorb for this needle-hating, blood-adverse, memory challenged, anti-nurse! We spent an hour and a half at the infusion lab yesterday afternoon, being schooled in all this, and I've already forgotten everything they told me. Good thing they sent us home with two notebooks full of reminders!
The other good thing is that, knowing my limitations, and being rather fond of "gizmos", Hubby actually paid attention to their instructions this time, and can pretty much do everything for himself. My only concern is that he might get a bit lax about sterility issues over time. Guess that's where I come in -- Designated Nagger!
And now, let us hope, we can return to our regularly scheduled programming. I am in desperate need of some time alone with my art supplies!
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