The daily grind

I'm doing this simply for documentation. It might interest some of you to know what the basic overhead is for me every day.

1) Get out of bed.
2) Eat the "breakfast of champions" (a small handful of pills).
3) Start the shower
4) Remove my 'required' T-shirt. (keeps the Hickman catheter from being pulled out)
5) Remove the dressing over my Hickman catheter.
6) Cover my Hickman with a "Showerguard" plastic sheet (supposedly keeps the Hickman dry)
7) Shower, shave, and brush my teeth with 2 different types of toothpaste and 3 different tooth brushes. (really!)
8) Turn off the shower and dry off with a new towel every day (required).
9) Remove the "Showerguard" and dry the area under it. (not really waterproof)
10) Open a pre-packaged dressing kit.
11) Sterilize the area around the Hickman and under the Showerguard location starting from the Hickman entry point and working outward.
12) Place two gauze pads on the Hickman entry point (one under and one over the line).
13) Tape these gauze pads to my chest using alternating tape patterns so my skin doesn't disintigrate over time.
14) Remove my infusion (hydration) bag from the refrigerator.
15) Warm the bag under hot running water for 10-15 minutes.
16) Program the infusion pump.
17) Place the warmed infusion bag in the backpack.
18) Install a pre-packaged tubing kit on the hydration bag.
19) Prime the line(s) of the tubing kit (including clearing bubbles from the lines).
20) Put a new battery in the infusion pump.
21) Program the infusion pump.
22) Connect the primed tubing to my Hickman catheter after cleaning the tip with alcohol.
23) Connect the pump body of the tubing kit to the pump.
24) Finish programming the pump.
25) Check everything and start the pump.
26) Carry "Wheezy" around for 4 hours.
27) Undo the tubing (disconnect).
28) Clear both lines of the Hickman catheter with a saline flush followed by a heparin flush.
29) Resume my day.

I've been asked why I don't combine #7 and #15 by warming the bag in the shower. The simple answer is that the ports of the bag need to stay clean and dry. It's not practical in the shower.