How many needle pokes does it take to tick Abby off???

We have now been here 10 days.  You'd think that after 10 days, Abby's CMV levels would be looking better wouldn't you??  Well, they are down from 823 all the way to 768.  The problem is, they are supposed to be below 300, we aren't even close!!!   When you see Abby you think that she's doing okay, other than all of the weight that she's lost, but it seems like everything bad that can happen, has happened!! 

This is the story of the last couple of days:

On Wednesday morning, Abby found some gunk in her picc line-nothing too much, but it was there.  They decided just to change the covering and see what happened as the day went on.  That night, it was back, not thick enough to know that it was infected, but possible.  So, they decided to clean it again.  The nurse came down and spent about 45 minutes cleaning it up and making it look good. 

Then, even though it was about 8:00 at night, Dr. E. decided to stop by and check on Abby.  She heard about what happened, looked at it, and told them to pull the picc line, she didn't want to mess with it.  So, they pulled it out.  I felt bad for the nurse that spent so much time cleaning it up.  When I watched them pull the line, I almost puked, it's sick to think that it went all the way to her heart!!!  I had to take a picture. 

So, we the line was pulled and all cleaned up.  They had to take a culture to see if it was infected, so that was another poke (always 2 for Abby!)  Then they started an IV to give her fluids for the night.

The next morning was when the excitement began.  The IV team came to start another IV.  The only way that Abby could get her anti-viral med, was through an IV, they thought it would be okay, but were a little nervous to give it to her through the IV because it's so toxic, but they had no other choice.  So they got another IV in and started the meds.  About 25 minutes into it, it takes one hour to administer the whole dose, Abby said, "Um.......I think something is wrong with my IV!!!"  The nurse came in, and after looking at Abby's arm, hurried and stopped the IV.  It had leaked, or infiltrated, or gone bad, whatever you want to say.  It looked bad.  A big, red, hard swollen area all around the IV!  The wound team even came down to take a look! I think that was one of the few teams we hadn't dealt with here yet!  It was kind of funny, because Abby has a scar that's just a long line that goes right up her arm, it was right by where the IV was, so everyone thought that the wound was even worse than it was.  Well, problem solved, temporarily anyway.  She still had 30 minutes of her meds to go, so they put in another IV in the other hand, then sat and contemplated what to do.  The final decision was to dilute the med and have it run over a longer period of time.  The plan as of Wednesday night was to continue giving the anti-viral through the IV until it goes bad, or until we can put another picc line in, she still has 6 days of medication to go.

Things worked out all day Thursday, and then today, Britt and Brock got to come and be here with us!!!  We spent some time just hanging out, and then we heard some more bad news.  The culture from Abby's picc line came back positive, it was an infection.  So, how do we a treat it??  an antibiotic.  How do they like to administer the antibiotic??  Through a picc line because it's so strong.  Can Abby have a picc line?  No, because it was infected so they have to wait at least 3 days.  How long does she have to take it? 2 WEEKS!!!!  So, because they are already running her anti-viral through an IV, and they figured it's going be going bad at any moment, the IV team came in and put in another IV to start running the antibiotic.  It needs to run every 6 hours, so the chance of that IV lasting very long is pretty slim.  They are testing the picc line site again, and seeing how strong the infection is, we're hoping it's not too bad so she can get another picc line in to run all of this crap going in her.  When I asked the nurse if we can go home with the picc to run her antibiotic or if we'll have to stay here, she said, "sometimes you get to go home, sometimes you have to stay, it will be up to the cardiologists!"

Understatement of the year!!  hahaha-we are so funny!!

I don't know what we'll do if we have to stay, that will be too long.  It almost seems like things are getting worse, not better, and now we're scared for what tomorrow will bring.  I hate to say it, but all of this is getting a little old.

Hooray for Britt and Brock

The blood spray made a smiley face!!!

Love Abby's face!!!

2 IV's-couldn't be happier :)