Morning Routines...

    It is now August 8th. Every morning at 6am a nurse would come in and draw blood from my PICC line. It became a routine that I got used to. I would know to be sleeping on my right side when the nurse came in, I'd pull out my left arm from the blanket, didn't change my sleeping position, she took the blood and left, I tucked my arm back in and went back to sleep. What is a PICC line you are probably wondering? A PICC line is a peripherally inserted central catheter. Mine was inserted in my right arm. It is basically a tube that runs from my arm, through the vein and into my heart. It is what was used to draw blood, give me chemo, and other medications. It is just a simple way of doing all those things without having to stick me with a needle every time. You may be wondering if it hurts or is uncomfortable. The answer is no, I barely felt it when it was in. It was annoying because you cannot get it wet. I was unconscious when it was inserted so I couldn't tell you if it hurt or not. 
    The nurses would come into my room every morning around 8:30 and write statistics on the huge white board in front of my bed. What they were writing were the numbers of the different components of my blood that they drew at 6am, my platelets (clotting), hemoglobin (oxygen carrier), and white blood cells (immune system). The normal values in a healthy person is as follows: platelets 150 to 400, hemoglobin 120 to 160, and white blood cells 4 to 11.
    It was another highlight of my day to see how my body was reacting to all the chemo, seeing if it was doing his job. On this particular day these were my numbers... platelets 39, hemoglobin 109, white blood cells 2.9. The chemo is starting to take a toll on my body, dropping all my blood levels to below normal. This is all normal and to be expected since I was having such aggressive chemo treatments.
    The next part of my morning routine was not a fun one. It was a Heparin needle in my belly (this is to prevent clotting since I was laying in bed all day.) It would come at the same time as my breakfast at 9am. Since I was tube fed at this point that was just warmed up Boost drink through my nose. The first time I didn't know what to expect. I thought "Oh just a little needle in my stomach, I can handle that, I'm a tough hockey player. I had a needle drilled into my hip bone and bone marrow taken out, this will be nothing." Well was I ever wrong! I'm pretty sure I yelled every curse word in the English language, maybe even a little French. Needless to say I came to dread every morning at 9am. I didn't even want to have my breakfast since I knew what was coming right after that. It wasn't even an enjoyable breakfast, warm milk like substance running through a tube in your nose.
    After breakfast and Heparin shot the next routine was to sit and wait for the Doctors to make their rounds and tell us the plan for the day. They would usually be there between 9:15 and 10am. Some mornings they would come and interrupt my Boost breakfast, further delaying the Heparin shot and further increasing my anxiety. If you think it is intimidating to talk to one doctor, picture 3 to 5 doctors standing around your bed drilling you with questions.
    On this day we were waiting for the Doctors to come in and make the decision whether I needed another platelet transfusion before trying another round of ATRA chemo. That was the plan, 2 platelet transfusions folllowed by another try of the ATRA. The doctors were hoping that my body was stronger now and could handle the treatment this time around.

These pictures give you a better idea what a PICC line is!