Slowing down has never been an option for motorcycle road racer AJ Jacobsen. Prescribed a PICC Line following a serious accident, AJ shares how her Care+Wear PICC Line Cover helped her to get in and out of her motorcycle leather while in peak racing season.
As a motorcycle road racer, I’ve been treated for many different types of injuries, but being prescribed a PICC Line was an unexpected addition to my life. I was in a dirt bike class when another person hit and crashed into me, resulting in a serious pilon fracture of the tibia and fibula. I started healing and thought I was off the hook when I was allowed to put weight on my leg, but shortly thereafter I learned that the tibia plate was infected. By that point, as a single person living alone, I had very little intention of putting my life on hold yet again.
The Infectious Diseases doctor at my hospital prescribed 6 weeks of IV antibiotics, 3 times a day with a PICC line, as well as weekly hospital visits for labs and dressing changes. I started looking up PICC lines and found the idea rather terrifying. Thankfully a friend of mine previously had a PICC and was able to give me ideas and tips so that when the day came to get the line installed, I was prepared. I came across Care+Wear covers in my research and between reviews and blogs, I decided they were the way to go; I went and bought 3 so I’d always have a fresh one available.
The infusion schedule and times were a pain, but with the advice of my friend ringing in my ears, I was very careful about taking the time to keep my PICC site sterile and used my covers to protect the site between treatments. My nurses hadn’t seen the Care+Wear covers in use before and they loved them! My day-to-day life continued and the Care+Wear covers made getting in and out of clothing, sleeping, and most everything else extremely easy. I have been a motorcycle commuter for most of my life and the covers made getting in and out of my leather gear a fairly simple process, and I had no issues with binding or catching. Work was simple, the sleeves protected my PICC at home (with two young cats I was concerned about them finding it “interesting”), and between fusions, the line with the sleeves was hardly noticed.
I don’t live my life in the slow lane - commuting to work by motorcycle every day was one thing, but I also had a number of track days and a race weekend that were going to fall in those six weeks with the PICC line. This was my first year racing as an expert and I wasn’t going to let my PICC hold me back. I would pack my extra covers and headed off to the track. While the med schedule required some jostling of my track time, I was able to work it around all of my races. My covers allowed me to get in and out of my leather suit with no issues to my PICC line. Despite racing conditions and everything I must do on the bike in a race, my PICC line was undisturbed during the races.
This year’s race season has been frustrating for me in many ways. Between the issues with my leg, trying to get used to a completely new bike and moving up to the expert classes, there were a number of hurdles. However, it was while I was racing with my PICC line and Care+Wear PICC Line Cover that I had my first win as an Expert in the AFemme class. I’m so thankful that I found the Care+Wear covers that allowed me to keep doing what I love during a trying time.
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