_ Hi Ladies, am haveing a Hickman Line put in next Friday due to rubbish viens from previous chemo, so i wondered if anyone could tell me what to expect?, if you were pleased you had the line put in ect, how to care for it ,and how you managed with bathing and showering ect, my veins are still like wire from previous Epi so my onc has booked me in to have this line put in before starting my chemo on the Monday. Another new world for me, but as il be haveing Herceptin after chemo finishes im hopeing it will be better in the long run, the nurses said they could use feet ,but my onc said a definate not! _
Thanks all , Linda x 
Hi
I had the hickman line in may, and had the next dose of chemo through that line. There are things which I want you to know. Ask for the leaflet and find out if there are options for general anaesthesia. I had it done under local and it was a traumatic experience. We were not given any leaflet, infact I felt I wasnt prepared well before. I looked briefly in the google before going. But that didnt answer many questions.
I had taxol through the line and suffered after 2days with neutropenic sepsis, they did all cultures including the line culture which was negative, I was told it was related to the chemo. So dont worry.
There is a line of entry near to your collar bone and it comes out through the chest. Throught out the procedure monitoring is done by ECG etc and you should tell them if you feel palpitation or pain which happened to me twice but luckily my heart rhythm was normal though my heart rate jumped to 120, it does happen during the procedure, so dont panic, relax and it will be over in 20mts or so. You will be kept in the ward for monitoring for few hours in an upright posture and can go home the same day. There will be silk sutures around the exist and entry point. I was told that sutures at the entry point needs to be removed in a weeks time if doesnt fall on its own. Noboday mentioned about the sutures at the exit one and it was supposed to be removed in 3weeks but mine was removed by a kind nurse after 4weeks when I went for dressing. So I had some redness and next day yellowish scab which was sorted with clean and dressing and antibiotics. It looks better within a day. Sorry to paint a grey picture, but if have no options we are left only with the hickman line.
After care is, the day of the procedure is very uncomfortable, cant lie flat or turn to sides , feel like a stabbing pain at the neck but take regular paracetamol and ibuprofen, you will come over in few days. You can take shower after 48hours as the dressing is waterprof, but cant use bathtub. Keep the area clean and dry, seek medical help if there is redness, itching around the area.
the advantage is no more stabbing for veins, you can have the blood test and treatment going through easily through the hickman line. The oncology nurses are great, they will do dressing and answer all your queries, so dont hesitate to ask all your doubts.
Best wishes, cancer itself a difficult thing to digest but we will get through as many others have done in the past, so dealing with this line shouldnt be a problem.
Hi Gary, thanks so much for telling me about your expierence of haveing the Hickman line put in, i must admit i am quite neveous about haveing this procedure done as it all sounds like quite scarey stuff , though i know in the long run it will be much better for me hopefully, my veins are still like wire from previous chemo ,and its a nightmare even trying to take blood samples from me nowadays , all the nurses have a try to get blood ,but its not unusual for me to have at least 3 or 4 different nurses stabbing at me in the end as most cant get it so go running off to try and find someone else to have a go ! ive never had a problem with needles in the past, but now i actualy dread even just haveing blood tests done as the multiple attemps at stabbing different viens which still end up only giveing out dribbles of blood before it stop again gets very painfull in the end and i always end up black and blue everytime. to add to this ive also now had lymphnodes removed from both my arms as this is my 2nd breast cancer DX so because of all the probs with my viens my oncologist thinks the best option for me now would be the Hickman line .
Thanks so much for explaining the procedure to me so i can be more prepared about what to expect, i realy appreiciate you taking the time to tell me about your expierence. Hope you are doing ok , all this cancer busisness is horrible isnt it, but we do get through it all somehow.
Very Best Wishes to you Gary.
Linda
Hi
Hope you had your hickman today, have a speedy recovery, thinking of you
Hi Gary, Thanks for thinking of me, i had the hickman put in on friday as planned, not the nicest expierence ive ever had but its done now thank goodness, am realy sore and bruised at the insertion site and has been pretty uncomfortable especialy around my neck and colorbone though it does feel a lot better today so hopefully will all settle down soon, the district nurse came out yesterday after 24 hrs to change the dressing and check everything, she was a bit concerned about the redness at first but when she remove the dressing said it was fine, she freaked me out a bit lol as thought id have to ring oncology to have it checked but she decided all was well ! think its becase im pretty bruised around my colorbone that made it look worse, but my temp is fine.
Havent had a good week so have been very tearfull the last few days, i somehow managed to get a tooth absess earlier in the week so have been on ABs for a week i have had to have a surgical extraction of the tooth causeing the problem at the hospital because the xray showed a burried cannine tooth so this was removed surgicaly the day before the hickman was put in so have spent 3 days back and forth to the hospital with both things, so unfrotuneatly have been haveing pain from both the bloody tooth and the hickman! Realy fed up this week, as now because of my absessed tooth , although its now been urgently removed, my chemo has been delayed a week untill my gums heals properly as my onc didnt want to risk any infections on starting my chemo, it never rains but pours sometimes does it, so lots of tears these last fews days think it all just got me down but feeling a lot better today, shall try and enjoy this week now before starting the Tax next monday!
Hope your doing ok Gary, thanks again for all your help with the hickman and for thinking of me on Friday.
Very Best Wishes to you
Linda x
Hi Cornishgirl
Sorry to know that you were uncomfortable and in pain. I hope you are feeling better now. After the first week you will be alright and you will learn to accept it. Keep the dressing clean and dry after the shower, I hope they have told that showers are ok but not bath.
This week when I went for blood test, they couldnt get bloods out of the line , I was terribly shocked but the kind nurse told me that it does happen and asked me to do few movements of my arm, still no luck, the flush was working but there is no back flow. then she gave me a drip and asked me to move around with the drip stand, thank god after about 200c gone in, she was able to get bloods. It is that sometimes a flap of tissue can obstruct the flow itseems. So dont worry, we may face many hurdles but we will all face it courageously with the support we have through this link. How is your toothache, hope you are smiling , and getting ready for tax
I will be starting weekly taxol this friday as I had adverse reactions with docitaxel 3weekly
take care,
Gary
Hi
I had a Hickman Line inserted in 2007 and I really didn’t like it. I made a holder for mine which helped. You can now get them at www.centrallineholder.com It’s a bag that supports the Hickman Lines to stop it from pulling and makes it more comfortable to wear. I hope that helps.
Best wishes