Well it’s morning and today is the day I get my first plasma exchange treatment for Guillain Barre Syndrome up here at the Saint John Regional Hospital. As expected I didn’t get much sleep last night. This is by far the loudest, noisiest floor of any hospital I’ve been in so far. I’ve just finished breakfast and now I just lay here waiting for the nurses to inform me when I’ll be heading down for my plasma exchange treatment.
The nurses just came in as they received a call from the Plasmapheresis department to check my veins. The nurse from that department wanted to make sure there will be no issues finding a vein for an IV line. After checking and having further conversations with that department they decided that a central line will be required. This was not the news I was looking for. I am going to have to have another procedure done before getting my plasma exchange treatment. They will be inserting an Internal Jugular Central Line before heading over for my treatment. This is the exact procedure I did not want. Now I’m getting nervous about this whole thing.
It’s time! The nurses are here to take me down to radiology to have my central line inserted. I’m starting to get a little nervous now, anxiety, this I did not want. I was hoping they could just do it with an IV line. Now i’m heading down to get it done.
I’m now down in the Radiology Department and they’ve just brought me in the room to prep me for the procedure. I’m getting more nervous by the minute. They now have just transferred me onto the table with a big X-ray machine over my head. The nurses there were very informative and explained what they were going to do before hand. It made me feel a little better but at the same time I couldn’t shake still being nervous about this. My anxiety was up, my heart beat was up and my breathing. They started putting iodine all over my chest and neck. They began draping me all over only leaving the exposed area open where my jugular was to place the line. The nurses have me all prepped and now we’re just waiting for the Radiologist to come in to insert the line.
The Radiologist arrived and we had a short conversation before he started doing the procedure. He wanted to hear my story and how my recovery was going so far from Guillain Barre Syndrome. Like always people are always amazed on what I’ve been through so far and the severity of my case. Every once in a while as I tell my story and I think about what I’ve been through tears comes to my eyes. Today was one of those days as my emotions got the best of me. After our talk he then explained what exactly he was going to do. He had a very calm voice which helped reassure me and make me a little more relaxed. He said before he did anything he’ll tell me exactly what it was and what to expect.
Now the procedure was about to begin. My head his turned to the left as I lay on the table with the big x-ray machine over my head. The freaky thing about this whole thing is I’m literally watching the whole procedure on the x-ray machine screen which was about 10 feet long by 5 feet high. The radiologist informs me that he is now going to freeze the area. After a short time to allow the area to freeze now comes the next step, inserting the central line. He informs me that when he goes ahead to do it i’m going to feel some pressure. He then starts inserting the line after making a few measurements first. I feel the pressure and I see the thin line going down towards my heart. That was the weirdest thing seeing the procedure in front of my own eyes on the screen but neat at the same time. Now my plasma exchange treatment comes next I just have to wait for my call.
I went back to my room and I finally got the call that they were ready in the Plasmapheresis department for my first of five treatments. The porters brought me up and I was quickly greeted when I arrived. The nurse there was amazing very friendly and made you feel at ease. She started asking me questions verifying information she received and to my surprise the information was incorrect. They had me down as a 23-year-old male with myasthenia gravis. I was like no, I’m a 41 year old male with Guillain Barre Syndrome. As soon as I said that she said that makes sense as she’s never seen someone as in bad of shape as I was with myasthenia gravis.
After getting that all sorted out she explained the whole procedure and what to expect. She hooked me up to the machine and it started. A good way to explain plasma exchange is like going for an oil change. This ensures no bad antibodies are not still lurking around in my body that could still be attacking my nerves. It took almost 4 hours for the first treatment. You don’t feel a thing really and the only discomfort I had was from the area where the central line was placed in my jugular and my neck being stiff. This was my first round of plasma exchange treatment for Guillain Barre Syndrome, 4 more rounds to go hope it works!
