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Blue
- Sheri Keitz, MD, PhD
- Durham, NC 27705 Requests for Reprints: Sheri Keitz, MD, PhD, Ambulatory Care Service (IIC), Durham Veterans Affairs Medical Center, 508 Fulton Street, Durham, NC 27705.
Mommy, look-your hand is all blue. Why is it like that?”
“It just got a bit hurt when I was in the hospital. It's nothing.”
5 a.m. The pump beeped. The digital display blinked “distal occlusion.” In the dark, I felt the tubing and searched for kinks. I turned on the light above the bed and looked for air bubbles. The IV was brand new, not 8 hours old. It couldn't be infiltrated. It just couldn't be. I rang for the nurse.
“My pump is beeping.”
She came in and tried to fix it; there were no kinks, no air bubbles. She tried to flush it.
“Ouch-that hurts.” Diagnosis: infiltrated IV.
“Do you need it? Do you know what you are getting in it?”
“I'm getting steroids and I'm going for colonoscopy in the morning. I need it.”
She called the IV team and she said she'd be back. I turned off the light and waited.
9 a.m. I rang again. The ward clerk answered. “Can I help you?”
“I have no IV and I'm due for my meds-can you check on this for me?”
I was terrified of missing my steroid dose. At home, I was meticulous about my medications. I kept them in pillboxes arranged by the time of …
