Post Lung Biopsy

1. PICC Line. This is a central line that runs up his arm and sits right above his heart. This line is in place of an IV line and can run more fluids at a time and stay in for longer periods of time, usually 30 days, sometimes for months. This line can also be used to draw blood so that he does not need to be pricked all the time.

2. Endotracheal Tube. This is James' ventilating tube which brings the air to his lungs. This tube goes through his vocal cords and so he is unable to talk. He is also not allowed to eat or drink because this will cause choking. The most he is allow is to suck on a sponge that has been dipped in water. They can remove the orange and blue tubes which bring the air to him and then insert a small suctioning tube into the Endotracheal Tube in order to remove mucas from his lungs.

3. Arterial Line. This is like an IV line except it goes into his artery instead of his vein. Throught his line they are able to constantly monitor James' blood pressure from second to second. These lines are also used to closely monitor a patients blood gas levels to make sure they are getting enough oxygen.

4. Arterial Line Ports. Through these ports they are able to draw blood. They could also use a PICC Line to draw blood, but since James' has the arterial line they use it. They also need to use this line because they need to watch his blood gas levels closely, which is best taken from an arterial line.

5. Chest Tube Drain. This is the drain tube that they needed to insert after the biopsy in order to drain blood, fluid or air from the space between the lungs and the wall of the chest in order to allow the lungs to fully expand again. The tube is placed between the ribs and into the space between the inner lining and the outer lining of the lung. As you can well imagine this is very painful.

6. This is the two inch incision they made in order to go in and take the piece of James' lung.

7. James' g-tube. This tube goes directly into James' stomach. It was insert last August (2006) and it is through this tube that we feed James his formula. At this time this is the only way that James gets food, he does not eat anything orally (not because he's ventilated, he hasn't really eaten anything since June)

8. There are three of these purple lines. You cannot see the actual place where they are connect to James, usually they are placed on the chest area, but since he just came out of surgery they have moved them to his arm and leg. These lines monitor James' heartrate and respiratory rate. There are three stickers placed on his body and the lines are connect to the stickers in order to monitor these. The other end of the lines are connect to the computer monitor so it can "beep off" if his rates go to high or low.

9. Blood Pressure Cuff. This is just a regular blood pressure cuff that they use post-surgery or when things are not going well to confirm that the blood pressure results from the artery line are correct. The machine is programmed to automactically check every 5 or 15 minutes (or whatever they set if for at that time) so the cuff has to remain on until they feel he is stable enough to remove it.

10. SATs Probe. It's a bit hard to see the probe on the picture since it is flesh colour. This is the probe that James wears day in and day out when in hospital in order to monitor what his oxygen levels are and make sure he is getting the amount that he needs

11. Peripheral IV Line. This is just a regular IV line which usually lasts anywhere from 1-5 days. They had this IV so that they could give him medications through it. Some medications do not mix well with TPN and so they liked to have this IV to keep them seperate. Eventually the line came out and after three pokes to try put a new one in they gave up and are now just using his PICC Line.