BLOODS AND DRESSING CHANGES

 Hi Nerds and Brainiac's, 

Blood coming out of your veins isn't a pretty sight. Some people cringe away from it. Others feel light-headed. Some people feel faint/drained. They have to sit down afterwards. I don't have any of these problems. I'm a professional at getting blood taken out of my body. I don't cower in fear when looking at needles, or blood. I know it's a weird quirk, but everyone has something that makes them unique. When you've had 3 or more bottles of blood taken out of your body, it's bound to make you queasy. I am immune to the powers of queasiness when it comes to this. The blood gets taken out of the PICC line to check if your blood markers look good. It also flags up any infection markers to see whether you are neutropenic. I'm gonna give you some mind-blowing advice. Sit back, relax against those fluffy pillows, cuddle a stuffed animal, wear your favourite pair of loungewear/PJ's/hoodie's/T-Shirt's/joggers. Listen loud, and crystal clear: 

'If the thick blood that oozes out of your veins freaks you out. Distract yourself by talking about everything and anything that you're passionate about. Close you eyes and get 40 winks of sleep if you can't look at the red stuff that looks like ketchup, but isn't.'

I'll leave you to freak out about that in your own sweet time.

Dressing Changes:

These were done in the Daycare unit of the ward. The nurses remove the sleeve that's covering your line to keep it protected from water. They get a tray with supplies to change the dressing. Then they apply some water to get rid of the sticky backed dressing they apply on your arm. It's painful, but yo can minimise that pain by clenching your jaw, or using a few choice words. The water takes away the dressing easily, and the nurse peels it off slowly. Then comes the alcohol that leaves searing white-hot pain to clean the area where the new dressing is going to be placed. Then a sticky back plastic tab goes on your arm, they put another plastic dressing on top, write the date, and then wipe and clean the bungs on the end of the line. They sometimes flush your line out if the bungs get loose so no infections or bugs are detected in your line. 

I'll leave you to be fascinated with that process of changing a dressing. 

Just remember one thing:

'Talk to distract yourself from the pain.'

See you in the next post.

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