I didn't get a minute to write this morning.  I was up almost all night trying to get Meaghan's PICC to run smoothly.  Finally she got the full dose and I went to bed at 1:45am.  Backing up for a second, Jimmy has been having problems of his own this week.  It started with strep throat over the weekend (while I was still in the hospital with Meaghan) then one bum ankle early in the week and the other last night.  Early this morning I was trying to schedule an appointment for Jimmy and one for Meaghan.  I picked Jimmy up from school so his pediatrician could check him out.  There was no swelling, bruising or signs of infection so with a little rest he'd feel good as new.  SO I took him back to school to finis the day :)  Meaghan's home care nurse came to the house after lunch to draw blood, change the PICC dressing and look into the problems I was having.  Meaghan was such a brave and strong patient, I couldn't be any happier with how the ordeal went.  Below are pictures that may help you understand some of the things I am writing about.  

    

This is a PICC  line.  The white tubing goes into her arm and through her body, almost to her heart.  I connect the "ball" to the blue end every 8 hours.  The white tape is a big band aid with  a window in it.  That's what they call the dressing.  It's pretty fancy.  There's a hard plastic "house" for the tube.  Everything needs to be kept clean and dry.  It also has to be changed once a week, unless there are big changes in its appearance.

The top is a before picture of the ball and the bottom is one that is empty.  Meaghan calls the empty ball a butterfly.

 

 

Her reward for being SOOOO good for the nurse.  I was prepared with  toys but what she asked for was french fries.  The shake was suppose to be her brothers but he wasn't home yet, sorry buddy, she didn't drink it all.