Central Line is finally out!!

Cody finally had his central line removed last Thursday July 7th. After their trip to Texas it was decided that Cody had an infection and the line needed to come out. Rather than change their flight they decided to wait and have it done in Winnemucca when they got back. Thursday they went for an appointment where they were supposed to meet the doctor and go over the procedure and then have the surgery to remove the central line the following week. Dr. Kim looked at the line and decided that they couldn't wait. Cody's infection had caused a lot of skin irritation that was causing an extreme amount of discomfort for Cody (itching, burning, red, etc.) He is doing good and glad to finally have the line removed from his chest. After he had the line removed he made a comment about feeling like he lost 8 lbs. The line didn't weigh much but image having that thing attached to your chest. I'm sure it was a huge relief to have it removed. Simple things like sleeping and showering were such a pain. Not to mention all the skin irritation cause by having to keep it covered at all times.

Below is a picture of Cody's Broviac. The picture was taken when they were changing the dressing so the dressing or bandage is not on in this picture. As you can see his skin is really irritated.

Hopefully they won't have to give him a new one for quite awhile. As long as they get a good iv started with good blood flow they can give his once a month iv chemo infusion through a regular iv. He has had the same central broviac line in for over 15 months. It's nice to finally not have to worry about all the line maintenance (daily flushing, weekly dressing changes, and having to wrap it up just to take a shower so it doesn't get wet).

One step towards a slightly more normal life!!