Remember Janet Jackson's Super Bowl nipple accessory that caused such a stir?
Pish-posh, I say.
Wanna see some serious nipple jewelry?
This is called a Hickman Catheter. It runs from my chest up under the skin to my jugular vein. Then into the jugular vein and down to the superior vena cava near the right atrium of the heart or what they call ("they" meaning me) the body's chemo mixing bowl.
The drugs used in chemotherapy can be so poisonous that they need to be administered to the body in the most diluted way possible. Daunorubicin, one of my chemo drugs in the hospital, is so poisonous that it would eat away the vein and surrounding flesh if administered through a standard IV. With the Hickman it is slowly (and manually) pushed into the Hickman directly to the vena cava. There can be some minor heart damage from the drug, but it is the least harmful way of getting the most effective drug into the system.
There are two tubes in the Hickman which allows multiple drugs to be administered or blood to be drawn without a needle stick.
Me? I'm just looking forward to all the stares at the beach.
5 comments:
I realize that you are trying to make a fashion statement with the Catheter......but Polleeaassse......the Maria do Carmo Miranda da Cunha GCIH, better known by the stage name "Carmen Miranda" headgear ROCKS!
bkk
Why? Jealous?
In response to questions (including my own) about how the catheter is removed, my nurse at PCAM responded, "I'm pretty sure they just put a knee on your chest and pull."
"Like starting a lawn mower?" I asked.
"Yeah. Something like that."
Finally! A nurse with my kind of sense of humor.
I too think the Carmen Miranda/Chiquita Banana headgear looks stylin' It is a good look for you. The caths are beyond style. You are very fashion forward lately, but then after all it is Fashion Week.
Bil K
That's some serious accessorizing. Have you tried putting anything in there on your own?
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