My daughter (age 11) has her first PICC line. It went well for 10 days, but then it got clogged. A home nurse drew blood through it and didn't flush it. It was unclogged at the hospital and she had three more antibiotic treatments and I was very careful to flush it before and after each time. But now it's clogged again. Anybody else had problems like this? Is this normal or am I doing something wrong? I have a Masters Degree in Biology so it's not like I'm not a detailed oriented person, but have zero clinical experience in PICC lines. I'm curious to hear other peoples' experiences with them. Thanks.Also, what do parents do that have to work during IV antibiotics? We're having five treatments a day (3 of Cephapime and 2 of Tobramycin) and there is no way I could work and do this. I'm interested to hear of other people's experiences.
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PICC line problems
- Thread starter busyscmom
- Start date
I've had a few PICC lines. All went well. As far as I know, there are a couple different lines. One PICC line can be done in a room by a specialized nurse and this one DOES NOT need flushed with heparine. The other PICC line that I know of is inserted in radiology. This is a much better PICC line and DOES need flushed with heparine. I am very careful to flush with saline and the heparine after each dose. When I do home IV's, I usually do them for 10-14 days, and the lines do very well for me. Home IV's are the way to go, if you can manage all the times for the meds. Avoid the hospital at all costs. You don't want to leave the hospital with anything you didn't go in there with.
This PICC line was inserted by a radiologist under light anesthesia. We have been flushing with saline and heparain before and after each use. A nurse drew blood out of if two days ago and didn't flush it. It got clogged and we had it unclogged at the hospital. But it got clogged again the very next day (today). This is making me crazy and wondering if I'm doing something wrong.
NoDayButToday
New member
Hi... I've done Home IVs many times and have had a couple of PICC lines. I've only had them clog in the hospital, most of the time because they claim that the type I get (automatic valve- it has a valve inside and doesn't need a clamp on the outside) doesn't need to be flushed with heparin, but I insist because of experience. Also, when my home IV nurse draws blood from the line, she flushes it afterwards with AT LEAST 3 saline syringes... very important. Another thing for PICC care-- they say you can shower if you wrap it up, but my nurse actually said that it's best to just not risk it and take baths/have someone wash your hair over a sink. Even if you're careful, it will still get a little damp and can become painful or infected or messed up. I wouldn't call your experience "normal" but that nurse not flushing out the line probably did do some damage that often does lead to clogging. As for working and doing IVs, my family feels for you-- my mom works full time an hour+ away, and definitely cannot take off the whole time (3 weeks, usually). For the first few times I did Home IVs, she worked a few towns over and just came home and dashed back. But she started working in the Metro area again. By this point I had done Home IVs so many times I was confident I could handle it on my own-- if I could reach the line itself. So my nurse put an attachment on and I do the midday infusion myself-- its really easy once you get the hang of it (as I'm sure you'll soon see). But obviously, it takes a couple of go-rounds to be comfortable enough to do this. For now- you say you're doing 3x/cephapime 2x/tobramycin... which equals 5 times a day (I'm only guessing since they need to be evenly spaced, in my case at least). Maybe your doctor could divide the Tobramycin into 3 separate doses, so it would only be 3 times a day, which is at least a bit easier. I'm not sure if a doctor could even do that, I'm just throwing out ideas since I know what a pain it is to have to be home to do a dose... Good luckWOW this is a very long post lol
Thanks for your reply. Since I'm a teacher and have the summer off, it hasn't been a big deal. But I was thinking what I would do if this happened during the school year and wondered what people do that have year round jobs. This PICC line has now gotten clogged twice. My daughter's pulmonologist had a fit with the home nursing company because the nurse took blood from it and didn't flush it. She just simply didn't know. And since we've never had a PICC line before, I didn't know either. But I certainly will next time. We were told at the hospital that since it had gotten clogged once, the chances of it getting clogged again were good. And I can tell it doesn't flush as easily. Hopefully, we can get it out Tuesday.Again, thanks for your reply. Best of luck!