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carefully placed in my arm leading to a major blood vessel. The procedure did not hurt, but the care would be specific. I had a home nurse and TPN. TPN is Total Parental Nutrition, it is a complex mix of nutrition and vitamins specific to your body. It looks like milk in an IV bag, and actually smells like sour milk! I was relieved, but they still told me to try to eat, because this wasn't a "cure" just a "bandaid" for now. I was going to be slowly weaned from the TPN over a period of time in hopes that I would be able to eat by then. My mother was taught how to care for the PICC line when the nurse was not there.

I had the PICC line for about a week when one morning I woke and my neck was swollen, I wasn't sure if I just wrenched it somehow or what so I tried ice which seemed to help the swelling but once I removed it the swelling returned and was spreading. I knew something was not right and woke my Mother. She looked at my neck then called my nurse.

The nurse felt this was a life threatening situation and called an ambulance. I was back in the ER and they said I most likely developed a clot and they removed the PICC line.

After numerous tests and an ultrsound of my veins the results were in. I had numerous clots in the area of the PICC line which extended from my neck to half way to my elbow.

The treatment was going to be hospitalization and blood thinners. The only blood thinners they could prescribe me that would not pass to the baby was Lovenox. The Lovenox had to be injected subcutaneously in my stomach!; Everyday for the next 3-6 months. Not to mention that I now no longer had a PICC line, so the only nutrition I was going to be able to give myself and my child was going to be whatever my body could force itself to keep down which wasn't much. I was released only because I agreed to give myself the shots. I would have had to stay in the hospital if I could not give the shots myself. It was very painful, I never got it on the first try. I always had to poke myself more than once and one day it took me 6 tries! My stomach was so bruised I was running out of places to stick myself.

My trips to the emergency room were not over, however. I was rushed via ambulance one more time because in addition to all my other troubles, I began having fainting spells. The ER doctor told me that my symptoms could be indicative of the clot breaking off and traveling to my lungs. This too was life threatening, depending on the size of the clot, a pulmonary embolism would be

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