We're done!

 While we were at the hospital with Hannah they gave her a PICC line to give her the antibiotic and to draw blood for labs. A PICC line is kind of like a normal IV, but you can keep it in for longer periods of time with fewer complications and it's a little less invasive especially when you need to draw blood for labs. PICC stands for peripherally inserted central line, which doesn't mean much to me, the easy explanation is that it is a small flexible tube that is inserted in a vein in the upper arm and ends near the heart.

Since we've been released from the hospital I have been giving Hannah her antibiotic in her PICC line every morning and then flushing her line 12 hours later with saline and heparin. It hasn't been as bad as I thought it would be, but it terrified me as I left the hospital. She has had a home nurse come out once a week to change the dressing and draw blood, but other than that I have been all on my own.

This is basically what my mornings consisted of for the past few weeks:

 I'm happy to say that we are officially done with antibiotics! She had her last labs done on Monday and they called me Tuesday to tell me she was done. I am so grateful that she is healthy and I'm so grateful for the antibiotics, but I am so happy I don't have to do it anymore!!

Up to this point I haven't taken any pictures of her PICC line without the wrap on it, but this morning I decided to snap a few pictures of it before she got it taken out just to remember. I'm sorry if they gross you out.

They use stitches to hold the line in place:

So, this morning a nurse came, took the stitches out and pulled out the line. It didn't bother Hannah (or surprisingly, me) at all.

We are done! We are done! We are done! It feels great. She still has a few tests coming up and probably a few follow up exams with her pediatrician, but she isn't sick anymore and that is what I am most grateful for today!