Friday, July 17, 2009

I'm Hickmanless!

I had my Hickman catheter taken out today! It was a bit of a brutish procedure, but it's out and I'm hoping I'll NEVER have another one put back in.

So I thought there would be some light sedation, something to make me sleepy, etc. They gave me NOTHING. I was kind of freaking out because the nurse kept saying, "It's no big deal, they just pull it out." Hmmm. The words "pull" and CATHETER don't really go well together. But indeed, they just laid me on a table, pulled off my catheter dressing, and then the PA (it wasn't even a doctor, it was a physician's assistant) literally PULLED it out of my chest. I had one "OWWWWW!!" moment, and then it was over. They put a little bandage over it, some gauze and clear tape, and I just have to keep it dry until it heals (a week or so). NO MORE HICKMAN!



I asked them if I could keep it, but they wouldn't let me. It kind of went like this:

Me: Can I keep it?
PA: What? No.
Me: Why not? I want it.
PA: Um, it's medical waste. Trash. Biohazard. I can't give it to you.
Me: But it's mine - it was IN me for 5 months. I have an attachment to it.
PA: I'm sorry, I can't give it to you. I can show it to you, though.
Me: Let me see it. Oh. That's gross. You don't reuse them, do you?!
PA: NO! No way - it's trash.
Me: So can I have it?
PA: No.

I don't get it - if it's trash, why can't I just have it? It was so cool looking - you'd think it'd be bloody or gross or something, but it looked totally clean. They just whipped it out. That was in my VEIN, and it wasn't even bloody. And now I'm bummed because I really did want it. Hey, some people (weird ones) keep their wisdom teeth (actually I think I may have mine somewhere, gross), some people keep kidney stones, people keep stuff that the doctors pull out of them (bullets), and I can't have my little bitty Hickman? Whatevs. I wonder what he thought I was going to do with it....
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9 comments:

  1. ekweisbergJuly 17, 2009 at 1:39 PM

    Awww, I'm gonna miss that little sucker. And, for someone who stole the plasianist plys, Im disappointed you didn't find a way to MacGyver that Hickman.

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  2. George S.July 17, 2009 at 3:36 PM

    My dad kept his gallstones....

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  3. ThatGirlRunsJuly 17, 2009 at 5:55 PM

    But now Gus can no longer marinade you... (that sounds kind of wrong... oh well!).
    Adrienne could not keep hers either (she has had two, now she has a port) but interestingly enough Daniel was able to keep his catheter from the stem cell collection... I think maybe SCCA was not as strict as other centers. They also did not find it necessary for Adrienne to have a dressing over her Hickman and it turned out just fine.
    XOXO

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  4. MariettaJuly 17, 2009 at 9:49 PM

    i kept the hardware that was in my leg for 2 years - steve thinks it is gross, i think it needs to become ART

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  5. AnonymousJuly 17, 2009 at 10:14 PM

    I think you should keep this photo of your smile on your face with the bandage from where the Hickman used to be. That is the best.

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  6. slippertranJuly 17, 2009 at 10:58 PM

    Huge congrats! Hopkins wouldn't release you into the wild if they had any doubt that you were on track to be a long-term survivor. How funny that they wouldn't let you keep the catheter. Hopkins let me keep mine, not that I do anything exciting with it though. Any ideas?

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  7. chimeraJuly 18, 2009 at 8:57 AM

    Sarah - I can't believe they let you keep yours! Gus is convinced I got a mean PA. Hmmm...no ideas on what to actually do with it, but for some reason the idea of just having it is cool.

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  8. Lindsay E.July 22, 2009 at 2:23 PM

    Working for a Urological Association, I can tell you that people definitely keep weird crap. We have a museum of Urologic History and there is a "stone collection" that a doctor put together over his lifetime... and we're not talking about gravel...

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  9. chimeraJuly 22, 2009 at 3:47 PM

    Linds - EEEEWWWW!!!

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