Hickman is In

Good evening! Quick update-- I had the Hickman catheter placement procedure this morning under general anesthesia to manage any complications in case they arose. Thankfully, no complications arose during the procedure, and they successfully placed the Hickman in my left upper chest! It's a little hard to describe, so I stole this fancy graphic from Google for a visual.

Coming out of the procedure, I did experience more pain than I had anticipated. My neck and shoulder were extremely sore and stiff both along the incision and up my neck, so as the anesthetics wore off, I was a very unhappy camper. Getting upset and pain both trigger mast cell reactions, so I did have a minor reaction, but thankfully, it responded to Benadryl. They were able to give me Tylenol, heat/ice packs and a one time very very small dose of pain medication, which helped (although I was super frustrated that it took 3 hours for even that to happen). Tylenol and a heat pack seem to be doing the trick for now. 

I am really excited that the plan is to go home tomorrow! I am still a little loopy and weak from today, but I am confident that getting some sleep will help. I was supposed to have my next round of IVIG Thursday, but my outpatient doctor decided that to be safe, we should wait till next week so I have more time to recuperate. I'll post an update from home later this week, and thanks again for everyone's well wishes! <3