Introducing...

Squirt Jr! (aka my new IV pole)

I hope you remember Squirt Sr. who was with us for about 2 years. 

Squirt Sr. lived a very full life. He and I started our journey together in 2009 when I got my PICC line. 

We then continued our journey when I got my port. 

He got to go on walks to the mailbox, and even a walk or two halfway down the street. He got to help play the Wii too! You have to look closely, but he's on the left in this picture.

He even got to go to Florida on vacation with my Family in 2010! 

Squirt Sr. has been gone since early 2011, which is why I've had to become creative in where to hang the IV. One day the home health company just came and took Squirt Sr. away. It was a very sad day. So since early 2011, I have been without an IV pole.

Well last Thursday we finally got everything set up with home health again! That is when Squirt Jr. got here! Squirt Jr. doesn't have a pump on it, which means it rolls so much better and goes a lot higher! It's so exciting!

Home health delivers a weeks worth of supplies at a time! We switched to a new company because the one we used previously was over charging us every time. The guy who delivered the supplies was so nice. He gave us all of his numbers and told us to call if we needed anything. He said it's not all about money and he really wants to help. He will deliver supplies anytime I need it. We told him about our ER experience last week and how we waited 4 hours just to get IV fluids. He said that he doesn't want that to happen again, and to call him immediately if we are out of supplies and he will do everything he can to keep me from going to the ER for fluids.

We also got new health insurance and so with this new company, it is a lot cheaper. I've been approved for 2 bags of IV fluids a week. I then decide when to do them. So I did one Friday and then yesterday (Monday). Home health delivers the IV bags, IV tubing, the needle to access my port, along with other supplies needed to access my port, and pre-drawn syringes of saline and heparin that are used to flush my port with before and after IVs. 

The IV tubing is different than the one that the previous company used. I love it!! Here are a couple of pictures. 

The dial is the best thing! Instead of just guessing at how fast the IV is dripping, or having to use a pump, you turn this dial to whatever speed you want. The numbers represent mL (milliliters), which is what the amount that fluids are measured in. A whole bag of fluids is 1000 mL. So on the dial on the tubing, the numbers start at 10 and go to 250 around the dial. You can go as slow as 10mL per hour or as fast as you want. In the picture above, I have it set at open which means the fluids run as fast as they can. That's how they do it at the hospital. When I'm at home, I usually run the fluids at 200 or 250mL per hour, so I turn the dial to 200 or 250. I love how you know exactly how fast it's going in instead of just guessing! Yesterday I ran them slower so it took me about 5 hours to get through the whole bag. If you just let it run like the hospital does, you can get through a bag in 30-45 minutes. 

Here's one more picture of Squirt Jr. 

I'm glad that Squirt Sr. is getting to rest peacefully. He was getting a little rusty and liked to be carried instead of pulled because the wheels didn't work well. I've missed him, but I know Squirt Jr. and I will have a lot of fun together! Squirt Jr. is much easier to take anywhere! Heres to lots more fun adventures while doing something that's not so fun. I think Squirt Jr. is ready for the challenge!