Getting a PICC line

I always knew I'd be here at some point. I've just been sick for so long. It has been a stressful past few days playing phone tag and getting things set up. My LLMD is doing my meds through Walgreens Optioncare for home health services. Thankfully insurance is paying 90% of it but even with that much coverage it is still $130/week. I know when I was starting my journey I always wondered what people were paying for their medication so I wanted to share. So far my insurance has been great about covering all my meds, even the expensive mepron. I am hoping and praying they will pay for my IV meds for a decent amount of time too.

My LLMD could only send me to a hospital in CA for the PICC placement. I really didn't want to have to travel out of state for a 30 minute procedure. Thankfully my ND here who has been doing my weekly infusions is going to place the order for me locally. A real answer to prayer! Now I'm just waiting to get that scheduled and then we're off.

We are headed out to a camping trip for the next few days so I plan on doing lots of swimming while I can. I'm glad I get this last little hurrah before I get tied down. ;)
Quick q, will I have to cut out the sauna while I have a PICC? I'm already certain I know the answer but I thought I'd throw it out to the more experienced PICC users.

Hi ChickNorris -

WOW... you have really made some progress. My insurance has also paid for most of the treatment and for longer than I expected. I can't really explain why except that I went undiagnosed for 16+ yrs and was pretty sick when I started w/ my LLMD and she worked w/ insurance (at the time I started). So she had a track record w/ the insurance company for Lyme & Co treatment. Or maybe that wasn't it - I don't know. I'm very fortunate.

I have a long, detailed post regarding IV abx but it's mostly about port, not a PICC. Still, it has good info about the weekly home health care (I am also using OptionCare/Walgreens in CA but not sure how different it is in your state). Let me know if you'd like more info.

And many people report great luck with the arm band protectors, etc. NONE that I tried worked for me with my port (even though the port is installed under the skin, I have my needle in 99% of the time with a bandage covering it and none of it can get wet so I have to try to place a waterproof bandage over that).

NONE of the waterproof bandages stuck to my skin well and kept it dry (for showers when I had my needle in) so I hope you have better luck!

Please let me know if you have any q's.

-p

Good luck. My tip , use saran wrap to keep it dry in the shower. None of the covers they gave me worked but 4 or 5 tight wraps with saran wrap always kept it bone dry.

Oh I hope this is just right for you.

Well wishes with everything crossed for happy healing.

And thanks Pirouette and WVMike and everyone for your tips and support. I am making progress but I'm still really sick. I'm chilling in our cabin currently because everything hurts and my heart won't stop racing. I'm ready to get this show on the road!

lettuce know how picc goes ...i paid out of pocket 250 a wek for iv meds and supplys i paid a retired nurse for port access until i did on my own ..its unpossible to change dressing one handed though. infuserve has silver antimicrobial disks for site of picc btw