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High-Risk Pregnancy
PICC line nightmare
got hospitalized for dehydration, keotisis, and kidney infection due to lack of cleanliness with home health in iv. got picc line placed on thursday night. lidocaine made my "veins spasm" so after failing 3 times in my right arm, they went to my left arm and abandoned the lidocaine. failed twice, got it on third try. talk about some pain. this labor should be a breeze.
up 7 1.2 lbs (mostly fluid) and on my zofran line and fluids at home now and havent had any hyperemesis complications in 24 hours (knock on wood) other than smell!!!!!
ladies, i am extremely nervous about the PICC line and home health keeping it clean. how often do you check your temp and have you had any complications???
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Re: PICC line nightmare
I'm sorry to hear you are going through all this. I know exactly how you are feeling. I had a PICC line for 3 and a half months during this pregnancy due to severe hyperemesis and it was awful. I lost about 15 pounds before finally starting to regain weight and was in and out of the hospital due to dehydration and kidney issues. I had a PICC originally placed in my right arm with NO lidocane and it took four incredibly painful tries as the tech basically tried to shove it up my arm. I thought I was going to die. That PICC ended up springing a leak after 2 weeks so I had to have it pulled and have the whole procedure done again on the left arm.
Once I got used to the PICC it really wasn't that bad taking care of it at home. The worst part was just the time it took administering the IV fluids for 4 hours a night and I had lots of trouble keeping my electrolytes balanced. At first I had trouble keeping the line dry when showering but we got a pretty good system down and DH would first wrap my arm with a hand towel, then with a cut off shower glove and then tape it really tight and by the end we were pros!
I did have lots of complications but I think it was just due to bad luck. First there was the line springing a leak which was a disaster, then I developed an allergy to the latex in part of the netting that held the line on and got a horrible rash/staph infection. My line did get infected right at the end but we caught it right away and since I was starting to feel better the doctor said it was fine to pull it. I had a home health care nurse come once a week to change the dressing and check my vitals and that was the only time I took my temp unless I had reason to.
Good luck to you and I hope you start feeling better soon!
I'm just lurking but here are some "tips" to keep your line from getting infected....
when the nurse or your husband flush or put IV tubing onto your line make sure you aggressively wipe the hub of the line (the piece that gets attached to the tubing)....use your finger nail to press the alcohol pad around the ridge of the hub and on the top. Don't let a nurse just brush the hub with an alcohol pad and then use it, that's not good enough.
When the nurse changes your dressing make sure she washs her hands before, make sure all fans in the room are off, make sure that you and her both wear a mask during the dressing change. If somebody else in the room and close to you during the dressing change then make them wear a mask too. This is a sterile procedure so don't let her touch or use anything for your dressing that has been contaminated outside of the sterile area. If she accidentally drops something onto the bed or the chair and then tries to use it don't let her, request that she get a new sterile one. I've seen some people do dressing changes and it's quite scary what they will do out of laziness. The majority of nurses are great, but sometimes important steps get skipped.
I'm sorry you need a PICC line
we are pretty good with the sterile thing. dr said she has never seen one as well taken care of. my biggest fear is clotting when it comes out though. i have heard horror stories. the bruising in the right arm where they attempted actually got a clot and i had to go to the e.r. to prevent embolism! this has been a nightmare and a half! good idea with the towel on the inside. we have been covering it with seran wrap and zipper baggies cut to fit me. i am just overly worried about it since so much has already gone wrong.
did you have any clotting since yours stayed in so long?