PICC line insertion

PICC (Peripherally Inserted Central Catheters) line insertion - Tuesday 20th August.

Mmmm, I still haven't really made up my mind but think this is the right thing to do - with a little encouragement from darling Stella, my District Nurse friend! It's got to be really as the veins in my hand are sore and bruised from the previous doses of chemotherapy and the ones in my arms are looking a little gnarly too. A PICC line should prevent further damage – it's a narrow catheter inserted into the vein in the upper arm, using ultrasound. The tip of the line will lie in the big vein just above my heart. Mmmm, it’s a wonder I was ever a nurse as this part makes me squeamish each time I think about it. No chance of going back on the wards for me! However, the pros are that all future bloods will be taken from it (and, believe me, there are a lot of blood tests going on!), so no more stabbings and all Chemo will be given through it. As for the cons... mmmm, I'm not really going to go into those as it's the usual scary stuff!

So, off I go, escorted by Sarah and God-daughter Emily (18 years old and fascinated by the whole procedure!). After my initial sob – yep, rubbish I know - I decide to go ahead and get it done and haven’t looked back yet, except when I had to return the next day due to a puffy hand. Thankfully, it hasn't developed into anything but will be monitored. Once given the local anesthetic, the procedure got going and took all of about 40 minutes. Next came a chest xray to make sure it was in right place and hadn't gone up the neck… yikes! This resulted in the line needing to be pulled back 2cms as it was too far into the heart… yikes again! Then, job done, one PICC line inserted. Now it will just need to be flushed and re-dressed each week and it should look after itself hopefully. Another hurdle over.