From June 3, 2009: Damn I'm clever sometimes....

A mind-blowing *third day in a row* with the same patients.

One of them has the mother of all sinus infections, and is on some pretty strong antibiotics. Other than the infection, nothing's wrong with her.

In cases like these, we often set the patient up with a PICC line, which can stay in for up to a month or so (compared to 4 days for a regular IV line), so they can administer the strong antibiotics at home rather than being trapped in a hospital.

So she has signed the consent for the PICC but has a few questions. I re-explain what it is, and how they do it at the bedside (here is a great video of the insertion process) and that it's pretty quick and they numb you up, etc etc.

Judging by her reaction to the information, I'm not so sure they gave her all the information when getting consent. She said, "Maybe I don't want it after all."

And I'm thinking "How do I get her to understand and realize that it's not so bad after all?" and the little lightbulb goes off. One of my other patients has had a PICC for awhile now, and seems like a big fan of it.

So I excuse myself briefly and ask pt 72 if she'd mind giving a testimonial to pt 50 and her family. She says yes, so I grab 50 and her friend/sister(?) and bring them across the hall.

72 explains that it's really fast, and once it's in you can't feel it at all, and you can move your arm just fine. And the best upside is that you don't need to get poked for lab draws; they just take it from the port.

Pt 50 appears very relieved, and pt 72 wishes her good luck. I usher 50 back to her room, and pat myself on the back for a job well done.