Anyone that is a caregiver to someone that has a LVAD knows how careful you must be when doing Drive Line care. I can't speak for anyone else, but I know I've been scared of infection since we left the hospital. Each night when I do the Drive Line care, I almost feel like I can't breathe, until I take that last drain sponge off and see that everything is ok. Well, last night I could see that the exit site was a little more open than normal. It was very clean, but it still scared me, and all I kept thing was "Why does it look like that?" We called the VAD Coordinator and she told us we could do a "drive by" the next day, just for peace of mind. Jason went the next day and everything was fine, they said it would still take a while to heal, but to always make sure to position the driveline the same way that it naturally goes. Like if is "naturally" to the left, don't tape it down to the right.
My words of wisdom of this post is this: ALWAYS second guess yourself when doing driveline care. You cannot be too careful. If you touch something with your sterile gloves on, either finish the drive line care with just one hand (I've done this a few times!) or just start over. Drive Line care is not hard, but you need to STAY FOCUSED while doing it.
*NEVER, NEVER hesitate to call your VAD coordinator, if you are second guessing yourself about ANYTHING! Always rememeber, no question, is a dumb question!
My words of wisdom of this post is this: ALWAYS second guess yourself when doing driveline care. You cannot be too careful. If you touch something with your sterile gloves on, either finish the drive line care with just one hand (I've done this a few times!) or just start over. Drive Line care is not hard, but you need to STAY FOCUSED while doing it.
*NEVER, NEVER hesitate to call your VAD coordinator, if you are second guessing yourself about ANYTHING! Always rememeber, no question, is a dumb question!
No comments:
Post a Comment