AJVDK Posted October 27, 2006 Report Share Posted October 27, 2006 Hello All,Hope all is going good for all of you. Well today was a big day. I had my appointment with my cardio. This went well. My husband, my doctor, and I all talked, and by the end of the appointment I was off to the Hospital. I had a PICC line place today. I was in the hospital most of the day as they had problems placing the line. I am going to my doing IV fluids at home now. I am hoping this will help, as the dizziness, and heart racing has gotten worse. Plus now I am ready, when I need to go to IV drugs for lymes if needed. Also I talked to my social worker at SSDI, and I should be hearing next week a answer. Let?s hope for good news!!Talk to you all soon! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Dame Posted October 27, 2006 Report Share Posted October 27, 2006 I'm glad it went smoothly! Does your doctor think your surge in symptoms has to do with herxing or does he/she think it's because of something else?I'm glad you're getting the help you need! -Lauren Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJVDK Posted October 27, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 27, 2006 I am hoping this will really help! I can't beleive it, I am doing all the IV's at home. So I am learning all about hope to run the machine, to making sure the lines are clean. ( I hope I don't mess it up) I had a home health care worker come out today, she was really nice! So thats good. They are coming out once a week, to clean and redress the PICC. If nothing else I am learnign alot! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunfish Posted October 27, 2006 Report Share Posted October 27, 2006 amy - i hope the regular IV fluids will bring you some relief. i've had a PICC line for all but a few weeks since march of this year so let me know if you have any particular questions/concerns or need any "tricks of the trade" so to speak. i hope your first home nursing visit goes well too; i lucked out with a great nurse in cleveland & (on the second try) now have a great one here in toledo. just out of curiousity, are you doing the saline/IVs via gravity or do you have a pump? melissa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJVDK Posted October 27, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 27, 2006 Melissa,I have a Pump, they sent me home with. Question for you I have a red and pruple end. ( I have a power PICC) They said to trade off using them, IF I forget which one I used last is it the end of the world. I have brain fog so bad I forgot which I flushed with heparin while I when to get more achocol pads to clean the tips so I had to do both again as I couldn't remeber. ( one of those days) I am hoping it will get easier as time goes on! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunfish Posted October 27, 2006 Report Share Posted October 27, 2006 hi amy -i'm glad to hear you have a pump; doing it by gravity is a royal pain in the you know what, at least on a regular basis. i tried that at first (for my fluids, not for my nutrition) but it didn't last long at all. i too have two lumens (what the two ends are called). i'm actually kind of surprised they gave you two since you're only doing fluids, but perhaps it's because you may be starting IV antibiotics as well. but here's the scoop. it really doesn't make one bit of difference which you use when you're only doing saline BUT...and it's a bit "BUT" you must make sure that you flush both of them with the heparin on a daily basis. within reason it's better to flush an extra time than not at all. and of course do your best to keep everything as sterile as humanly possible. if you're not sure which end you wiped with alcohol, wipe anything/everything again. wash your hands a lot. or better yet get the antibacterial water-free stuff & keep it right where you'll do anything related to your line or IVs. there are some things that are contraindicated in terms of using the same lumen/port, i.e. certain medications, TPN, etc. but saline pretty much goes with anything & everything so it's not a safety issue.i'm not dismissing the every other day plan that was given to you...since you're only infusing one thing at this point it will keep both lumens used and perhaps stretch out the life of your line a bit. only trying to emphasize that if you use one lumen twice in a row it's not going to do any harm.you'll get more of a system down sooner than you'd think as i know it must seem like a lot initially. i had to learn the saline stuff, PICC line care, TPN set up, etc. and it seemed like tons at the time but i can practically do it in my sleep now. initially when i was having to alternate my coumadin doses (every other day a different amount) it drove me nuts & i had to keep track on a calendar. then one of my docs suggested that i could keep track by even versus odd days. on odd days i took one pill & on even two. thus i only had to be careful at the change of months. which honestly wouldn't even be a big deal for you; perhaps you could pick one color as even & one as odd & that would help? it was a simple thing that i know helped me with that med.hope this helps, melissa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJVDK Posted October 28, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 28, 2006 Thanks Melissa for all the pointers. I am going to use them. It's nice to know that it will get easier. Right now its to be alot. Today I did ok. I got the pump started, and got the IVs ok. So at least I was able to do it all on my own. Yeah! Thanks again!Amy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dizzygirl Posted October 28, 2006 Report Share Posted October 28, 2006 amy--hey congrats on getting fluids done at home.. that is great.. good luck with the picc line and working the pump and stuff..my friend who also has pots.. has a piccline and uses the pump.. she said that it has a difference in her fainting.. and help give her a bit of a boost...happy dripping dear!!hugs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poohbear Posted October 29, 2006 Report Share Posted October 29, 2006 Hi Amy!Glad to hear you got the picc and it's working well so far. The power piccs are designed to stay in a lifetime if needed and that's why they told you to rotate days but as Melissa said, it shouldn't make that big of a difference as long as you are infusing only saline. You may want to print a calendar off the computer and put your color coded days on it and check it off when you flush and clean the line. Having a "check list" may help you remember.Another thing I've found is that every hospital is different when it comes to their protocol for care of a PICC. Some have you flush with Saline followed by Heparin and others have you flush only with Saline. I've done both ways and not had a problem either way but I do prefer using the tiny amount of heparin just to be safe because early on in the game I had a line that nearly clotted off (not because of flushing problems but because there was a loose connection and air got in the line). I'm also happy to hear you had a good home health nurse. I've been through h*ll and back with a bad agency and when I finally switched and got good care I was shocked at how big of a difference it made. If you get a bad agency, do not be timid---call and complain and if needed file with the state. I've not had any line infections with my picc but I've had severe and serious skin reactions to ALL adhesives which forced me to go to a cloth dressing and my arm is still not healing well and it's not the best idea anyway because my picc line is not secured at all with only a cloth dressing. In my case, we will be pulling the picc soon and replacing it with a port. I'm nervous about it but I'm now on fluids, iv nutrition and other meds via line so I have to do something. It will get easier the more you do it and what helped me the most in the beginning was a detailed list of exactly what I was supposed to do and then the checklist as I mentioned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunfish Posted October 29, 2006 Report Share Posted October 29, 2006 pooh - i had major problems with adhesives for my PICC line too...as well as for my broviac. i now have scars from the blisters all over my arm(s) but finally did find some stuff that i could tolerate decently well. the adhesive isn't AS strong as what we'd tried to use but i thought i'd pass on the info in case it might come in handy for you now or in the future. there's a tape that's sort of a combo cloth/adhesive that can be used as a dressing which is called "hypafix". there's also a dressing by smith & nephew (from england) called IV3000 standard that i tolerate well enough to use. neither leave my skin happy but it's do-able....as opposed to tegaderm which is a disaster for me.sorry to hear that you seem to be in much a similar situation as i with all the IVs going....and with the trouble with the home health agencies. i hadn't realized how blessed & lucky i'd been with my original nurses/agency until moving and having to start anew; it was QUITE an ordeal.and yep, i too went with a detailed list initially & was then pleasantly surprised how quickly i didn't need to look at it at all.... melissa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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