Sufficient

Late last night, when we did James' cares, we set out everything to check and flush his central line. He got bathed and cleaned up and we all hoped and prayed that this line was not lost--actually, it's not lost as long as we can flush it, but it sure is handy to be able to pull back blood from it went we need to.

Just as I started I cried out and begged God to please let it pull back blood. No sooner had I cried out than there was 4 ccs of blood and TPA in the syringe. It was a much bigger relief than I had anticipated. It flushed just as easily as it had pulled. I nearly cried. God is so merciful and I am so grateful.

I told God that I was sure grateful for the first lumen working so easily and that it sure would be nice to have the second lumen too. Then I pulled back, and one or two ccs of clear fluid, the TPA, came back into the syringe. I felt suction in the line try to pull back the TPA, and there was no blood return. I remembered seeing the nurses in the hospital work the line, pumping the syringe. I did the same thing. A little bit of the suction broke and some blood came into the syringe, but there was still some suction on the line, trying to pull the blood back in. I held 4 ccs blood waste in the syringe and clamped the line. I pulled the waste out and flushed the line with saline and and locked it with heparin.

I'm sorry, but honest, to say, that I murmured and told God that it sure would have been nice to have two lumens. He said, "One lumen is sufficient." I knew I would have to trust God for James' lines.

One lumen is sufficient, even if two would be nice.