In case you were worried

I posted the following on Facebook yesterday about my rather stressful afternoon:

When having a medical procedure done it is incredibly comforting (note sarcasm) to watch the nurse's eyes widen in shock, narrow in confusion, then widen even more again. Apparently the doctor performing the procedure was a resident and wasn't entirely sure what he was doing (based on overheard conversation- I was completely awake but they weren't hiding much from me). Comforting. Especially when it involves inserting a PICC line into my heart. I wasn't sure whether to be thankful or panic when another doctor came in.

But don't worry- I am fine. The procedure took a little longer than normal because apparently my veins were being tricky, especially for someone who didn't have a lot of experience, but in the end everything was okay. (If I have to have this procedure done again in the future, however, I may just have to be sedated to avoid a panic attack. I was already nervous going in and had a very hard time staying calm. My whole body hurts today from being unable to stop tensing. It doesn't help anything that it didn't exactly go smoothly). 

So what exactly is a PICC line and am I okay? A PICC line is a glorified IV line that I had inserted in order to do some IV antibiotics from home. I have not been feeling great for a little while; I was working hard to bring my lung function back up to baseline after the pregnancy, but instead it started going the other direction. After a round or two of oral antibiotics and no change it was time to move to something a little stronger. The set-up is actually decent; apparently things have changed a good deal since the last time I did IVs in 2008. Poles and hanging bags of meds are a thing of the past. Now I have these little balloon-like balls that slowly infuse (is that a word you use with medicine?) the medication over the correct amount of time while I can walk around with it in my pocket! Yay for that! Still, it's going to be interesting juggling the two kiddos and the meds, but at this point I'm just looking forward to feeling better. I won't say no to prayers.

So smart and simple, yet it took how many years to figure this out??