A Scary Episode

For those of you who like the short version: I made a mistake while flushing Rosalie’s line, she had a scary allergic reaction, we ended up in the ER, and everyone is okay now.

Now here is the long version:

In eleventh grade French we had to write an essay on what single moment we would change or do over in our lives. I wrote something very sweet about how I really wouldn’t change anything, mistakes are for learning, and I wouldn’t be who I was without all my life’s experiences. I remember my teacher wrote, “Quelle belle philosophie!” Today, I don’t feel half so philosophical or chipper. If I could re-do one thing in my life, I would have drawn the medication from the CORRECT vile, my daughter would NOT have blown up like a balloon, and I would NOT have been terrified that she was going to stop breathing. Ms. Ballard, may I have an extension on that essay?

Every night I “flush” Rosalie’s line (central line, Broviac) with Heparin to prevent clotting. Since Rosalie has had two line infections so far we actually add a little anti-biotic to the Heparin. This is called a Vancomycin-lock, or a Vanco-lock. The pharmacist sends the Heparin and the Vancomycin to our home in separate viles because the solution is only stable for three days.

On Friday afternoon I had to do a blood draw and then flush her line, and I drew from the wrong vile of medicine. I basically shocked her system with pure antibiotic and she blew up like a balloon. Definitely the most acutely serious situation we have ever been in with her. It was incredibly scary. Mark and Paula were here - Thank Goodness! We got Benadryl in her right away, Mark drew back what Vancomycin was still in the line, and we took her to the ER. The paramedics drove us because I wanted an oxygen tank there to be safe. I've never had anything like that happen to me where something I did physically affected another person like that before. It was awful. Like Rosalie needed any more harsh chemicals in her body! She is fine and the doctors were very kind and sympathetic. They gave her a steroid to be safe and did some blood work to check on her kidneys.

The home health care company is going to help me by color coding the viles or possibly even mixing the solution for me and delivering it every three days.

We are very lucky that something more serious did not come of this mistake. And we are very lucky that Rosalie is a trooper when it comes to medical drama.