Good evening ladies. I had a bit of an issue with my PICC line yesterday that resulted in a visit to a&e - in retrospect it could have been avoided so I wanted to share my experience with any of you that also have a PICC to help avoid the same happening.
The blood in my PICC clotted yesterday which meant that my district nurse couldn’t draw blood or flush with saline. This was at 12.30. She decided to come back in a few hours to try again but by the time she came back it was worse. She said I needed to call my chemo unit to figure out what to do next. By that time I couldn’t get into the unit before it shut so they said I had to go to a&e. My first learning was that if something isn’t working that is chemo related get in touch with your chemo unit straight away!! My PICC first clotted at 12.30 - I am sure that if I had rung my unit then I could have gone in and got it fixed that afternoon rather than going to a&e where they honestly didn’t really know what to do, took 4 hours to sort things out and frightened me quite a bit by saying that they would take the PICC out!!
In the end they managed to get an oncology nurse from the onc ward down to see me and she pretty much fixed the issue straight away. She said that it looked like my PICC wasn’t being looked after properly which was why it was clotting and showed me how you should look after your PICC so that I could show my district nurse! 1) you should not be able to see any blood in the PICC line if you do it could clot in the tube and cause a blockage like mine did! It needs to be clear where the saline is sitting in the tube outside the body
2) if it does block you can use quite a bit of force to unblock it so if the nurses and doctors are trying but are afraid to use much pressure (5 different people tried to do mine before the onc nurse came down to a&e), try to get a chemo nurse to look at it as soon as possible as they are not afraid to use a bit of gusto! They can also use blood thinners to clear it if they need to 3) when you flush the PICC you need to do it in pulses not just one single push of the syringe and it is done and 4) you use as much saline as it takes to get a clear line - this could be more than one 10ml syringe
I know that is a lot of detail but I hope it is helpful as I feel that yesterday could have been avoided and would like to help anyone else with a PICC from avoiding it if possible and avoiding the prospect of a blood clot in the body
Up soooooo early (since 4.30) anticipating chemo day and the appointment isn’t until 4 p.m. I’ll be the one on the unit fast asleep. Wishing everyone a good day - wherever you are on the cycle. It is freezing here and my audio book won’t download to my new phone for some reason. I would say the day can only improve but then I remember I am off to The Marsden! I have a meeting in town beforehand which will keep me occupied and I think it a good thing.
In other news, the wig is ready for fitting apparently. I am going on Monday. I still have intermittent tufts of hair, although I am now wearing scarves and hats constantly as I am not fit for public display! I think I should probably crop it short before the fitting? What do you reckon wise women?
Morning Anna good luck today x
Yes cut hair before wig fitting especially if you are having any cutting to your wig as they do fit different with and without hair
The wig shop I used did not to cut mine whilst I had hair because of it xxx
Oh AnnaKarenina you are going to have a long old day!
I’m in at 10, but as if my want I’ll be there mega early!
Finally flurry of activity as I strip the bed and wash anything that stands still long enough.
I’d cut your hair if it was me - take control!!
Take it easy Monday though, you could be a little low???
Hope everyone is wrapped up warm and feeling ok!
Nearly the end of another week … getting closer to the end with every day!!!
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Thanks for the info Ruth. I have a PICC line and am only one treatment down, so just two line flushes.
Bit scary that the onc nurse is telling you how to look after the line and to pass this on to the district nurse. My first flush was done by the area PICC specialist, and yesterdays by a nurse with a student nurse and she did the pulsing bit and explained that all so hopefully my team are okay.
Do you regularly look at the clear bit yourself so would spot anything early.
Thanks Carole x
Good luck to anyone heading for chemo and other appointments today x
Ruth, I hope that your PICC behaves today, you are due some luck x
JC, hope today is better for you, just take each day as it comes, I had a very low couple of days this cycle then suddenly woke up on day 8 and felt like I could conquer the world and I scrubbed the house within an inch of its life, so don’t despair x
That’s good news about the green tea Lesley, I’m going to ask my onc again next week now about this as Iove my green tea too. ??hope everyone’s treatments, appointments and se’s are treating you kindly my lovelies ????shi xx
Hi Lesley, you can get a sleeve on prescription they are called limbo I think. It’s the one I have and it has worked well. Might be worth phoning your GP to see if you can get one x
Hi Lesley I was given a blue plastic sleeve at the time of fitting. I think that there are other options on the internet but this works well for me. I have the smallest one it’s quite tight but works. I was also told that you can try just wrapping it with clingfilm. Hope this helps Carole x
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