IV Therapy

This is Janes and I. We served in the same area. She was having a baby shower. 

I was pregnant and not telling anyone yet. Can you tell I'm a bit pale?

IV Therapy was the solution to all my vomiting...according to my Dr. anyway. He was sure I would begin to feel better almost immediately once I was rehydrated. I tried to be optimistic and thought it would be an adventure. (What else can you do?) He did an ultrasound to verify how far along I was, as well as, make sure there was only one. Could you imagine if there were two parasites?

The parasite

The nurse was suppose to come later that day. It was after dinner and there was no sign of any home care (aka nurse with the IV). We called the Dr. and then the insurance. The first home health service wasn't covered by my insurance, so they had to arrange another service. The nurse finally came LATE at night. The details are confusing. I had many deliveries and visits from many nurses. This was the just the beginning of many to come. 

 Trying to find a vein.

Still looking...

 ...sanitizing...

I purposely did this one a little bigger so you could see he finally had success.

   Peripheral Cannula is the most common form of IV Therapy. That is what I started out with a peripheral line in the ER. They sent me home with one right in the bend of my arm. (You can see the white bandage). The Nurse here said it would be better to not have an IV in that spot, but rather lower on the arm where there is less movement. So it began. They (the peripheral lines) are suppose to last three days. Suppose was the key word.   

   One after another. I started keeping track, but then it wasn't healthy. The next month was worse day by day as I couldn't keep much down. I still can't think about Campbell's soup without being nausea. You can only throw up the same things so many times before it becomes almost an automated response. 

   I remember receiving blessings, prayers and fasting. I'm a big fan of all of them, yet none of them seemed to solve the problem. I began thinking what is wrong with me? Why can't I have a normal pregnancy? Why can't I just be normal? None of this helped. Even though I didn't receive a miraculous instant recovery, I was given strength from above to keep going forward. I kept trying new things (everyone had their own remedy and was sure that there's would be the cure for me). I kept thinking it couldn't get any more difficult than this. That's when I learned I lost about 15 lbs in four weeks. That's when I could hardly walk, because I had no energy. That's when my new life would meet a PICC Line and TPN. (Please note, don't try this at home).