hey shannon,
a couple of my first piccs were like this. they started out painful and essentially got worse. i would complain to the nurses and they would act like there was no reason i should be experiencing pain like that because it didn't appear swollen or infected -- and give me tylenol, which helped little to stop the pain. it did seem to be sore more in one place about halfway between my elbow and shoulder, though.
i now know the reason: it was put in by bedside picc nurses who, because of the nature of how they put in piccs, cannot really see what they are doing. turned out it was because the picc was sitting wrong against a valve and irritating it. (when they put it in, which took many tries, it would often get "stuck" right around that area of soreness -- and when they did manage to thread past it, well, my arm objected!)
answer: ask to have your picc placed by the interventional radiology people next time. they are sent straight from god to help us cystics. <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0"> they use ultrasound to actually see the vein so they know right where to insert the picc and where to thread the wire up.
this might be what is going on with you. it is normal for the initial insertion to be a little painful sometimes, and you could still be healing up from that, too. the other thing is, i'm sure they told you not to lift over 10 lbs with that arm? sometimes if i overdo it with that arm, it will get sore and i just need to rest it more.
i would definitely call the nurse and ask.
i hope your arm feels better soon.
a couple of my first piccs were like this. they started out painful and essentially got worse. i would complain to the nurses and they would act like there was no reason i should be experiencing pain like that because it didn't appear swollen or infected -- and give me tylenol, which helped little to stop the pain. it did seem to be sore more in one place about halfway between my elbow and shoulder, though.
i now know the reason: it was put in by bedside picc nurses who, because of the nature of how they put in piccs, cannot really see what they are doing. turned out it was because the picc was sitting wrong against a valve and irritating it. (when they put it in, which took many tries, it would often get "stuck" right around that area of soreness -- and when they did manage to thread past it, well, my arm objected!)
answer: ask to have your picc placed by the interventional radiology people next time. they are sent straight from god to help us cystics. <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0"> they use ultrasound to actually see the vein so they know right where to insert the picc and where to thread the wire up.
this might be what is going on with you. it is normal for the initial insertion to be a little painful sometimes, and you could still be healing up from that, too. the other thing is, i'm sure they told you not to lift over 10 lbs with that arm? sometimes if i overdo it with that arm, it will get sore and i just need to rest it more.
i would definitely call the nurse and ask.
i hope your arm feels better soon.