I had a full node clearance 16 days ago and have a lot of nerve pain in my arm and cording in my armpit. I also have a piic line in the same arm. It feels like having the piic in is causing more pain. Is there any risk to either the piic or my pain. I feel like I want it taken out to avoid more problems. Any advice? I’m seeing my consultant Monday.
Good morning @rarebit
Sorry to hear about cording and pain. My picc line was removed before surgery and I started to develop cording a week post-surgery. I had to wait 3 weeks to see the cording physio at my hospital and in the meantime was advised to continue the normal exercises.
I am surprised you have kept your picc line if it was on the surgery side. I assume you still need it?
I would advise to call your hospital hotline, do not wait until Monday. It may well be that they decide to remove the line but I am not a doctor.
I hope you feel better soon.
Take care
Marion
Dear rarebit
Thank you for your post. It’s understandable you want to avoid further problems with the nerve pain and cording you have and are wondering if your PICC line may be making it worse or, whether the pain or cording might affect your PICC line.
As you are experiencing so much pain, I hope you have been able to speak with your consultant and treatment team today. They can assess you to find out the reason for the pain and if your PICC line needs to be removed. If you have not been able to speak with your team it may help to call the hospital hotlone number as @marionse25 suggested. If you still need your PICC line, we were not sure if you are able to have it in the other arm but if not, occasionally a device called a portacath might be used instead.
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Teresa
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