It's the Line, Jim!

If you can pinpoint that title reference, then you're a true geek.

The second culture came back positive, so it's definitely a line infection. Further, since Cole's ANC dropped below 500 today, he's starting on IV anti-fungals.

Now, if you analyze that series of statements closely, you'll see that there's a problem. The quick treatment for a line infection is to remove the line. But, if we remove the line, how is he going to get the IV anti-fungals?

Well, the short answer is that they're going to put in an IV, but that means we can't go home since he must be at the hospital while he has an IV in. The possibility is that we'll be in the hospital for a bit.

Of course, they could always wait a few days and put in another line, such as a PICC line, for the duration of the IV anti-fungals, then pull that one as soon as he's done with the anti-fungals. But, really, another line... I guess I'm OK with that, but I'll be happy the day that we can put all lines behind us. They're such a pain, though they do allow for some convenience and less pain.

Even after all of Cole's lines are pulled, though, he'll still need to have IV access at least once a month for his Vincristine, but we're planning on just letting them put in an IV while he's at clinic. At this point, with all the troubles we've had with lines we feel that the down-side of the pain is balanced by the lack of an infection vector. I hate to do it to him but I know he can handle it. Still, that whole logic seems cold to me...

So, they're pulling his CVL tonight. I do have to take this moment, though, to stop and thank God for the fact that we rode that CVL for 2 months. It was a temporary, and it should have lasted 3 weeks tops. To get it to function for 2 months with as little trouble as we did have (it only had to be TPA'ed twice, for instance) is nigh on miraculous.