Port Spewing Blood

[mmmtat]

<h6 class="uiStreamMessage" data-ft="{"type":1,"tn":"K"}"><span class="messageBody" data-ft="{"type":3}">Port Peoples: I have a port (turning six this month!) and today I accessed it to do my monthly heparin flush. Everything went fine, blood return, pushing. But then, I pulled the needle out and blood started spewing straight out of it like a horror movie. I soaked through a tissue, and when I put it down to get another, it was still spewing straight out, all over the counter and mirror. I eventually got it to stop, but it bled a bit internally and is puffy and purple around the port. I went to the ER just to have them check it out. They said everything is fine, but I should schedule surgery to have it replaced. Has anyone had this happen? They said it was probably deterioration of the spongey part, that after six years it had been poked too much and it isn't instantly resealing as I pull the needle out. I only do IV's once, maybe twice a year. So most of the six years of pokes are just the monthly flush. I'm really dreading the surgery cause my husband is currently away, and I live away from family...So I'm kind of in denial and trying to convince myself it's fine. Ohhh sigh.</h6>
<h6 class="uiStreamMessage" data-ft="{"type":1,"tn":"K"}"></h6>
<h6 class="uiStreamMessage" data-ft="{"type":1,"tn":"K"}"><span class="messageBody" data-ft="{"type":3}">The font is coming up looking weird...I hope it fixes itself when I post this. </h6>

 

[JustDucky]

Geez, that would have scared the crap out of me! You did the right thing by going to the ER to have it looked at....I have never had this happen with either of my ports, the only exciting things that have ever happened were clotted lines and sepsis.. My current port is scheduled to be removed due to sepsis tomorrow, I'll miss it! It has lasted 4 years, 4 years of pretty heavy IV use (at least 4 courses of IV's each year along with flushes, so heavy traffic), I have never heard of what you describe but it will definitely always be in the back of my mind once I get it replaced!

Your surgeon will be able to tell you more, whether your port can be saved or not. I hope it can, I wish I could help you out more but I will be thinking of you!

Jenn 40 wCF

 

[LouLou]

I have never had this happen. Is the sepsis a result of a port gone bad or do ports have to be removed when one becomes septic? Also, how did you know you have sepsis? Scary! I recently went your website and you are an awesome, very talented painter. Did I read it correctly that you have done all the works you have shown since March? WOW!!

 

[JustDucky]

Hi Lauren....yes, I did all of the work shown since March. It keeps my mind very busy and happy <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0"> Most everything is done in oils, love working with them! Now I am totally hooked <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif" border="0"> lol Some paintings are really quick ones, while some take a week or so to do, depends on what I am doing .

As far as sepsis, I was just feeling lousy even with nearly a week of IV's done, so I knew something was wrong either with my lungs, port or both. It turned out that everything was snowballing in my case, the steno malt was very resistant and not responding to the antibiotics, and my port became really sore, blistered on top so I removed the needle. Cultures were positive in both my port and blood for enterococcus and yeast, when that happens, the docs tend to remove the port.. I also just felt very blah, achy and sick, also was spiking temps despite being on antibiotics. I am sure others present differently, but this is how it happened with me.

Jenn 40 wCF

 

[triples15]

Hi Maggie, I'm sorry this is happening! Ugh. That sounds really scary. I would definitely have it checked out further before removing it but it sounds likely that it needs to come out. What did they do in the ER to determine it needed to come out?

I just lost my port a week and a half ago. <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif" border="0"> I had it for 3 1/2 years and only used it twice (other than monthly flushes). It had a huge tear in the catheter right where the catheter met the port. Blah! I had a catheter-gram done after my monthly flush didn't feel right. The catheter-gram showed the hole in the catheter. The catheter-gram was super easy. They accessed my port, put me under x-ray, and then injected a dye to see where the fluid was going. Some people refer to it as a dye test.

Anyway, just like you I was super bummed to lose my port and was also nervous about having it removed. To maybe ease your fears a tiny bit, the removal was super quick and easy. They gave me light twilight sedation and used local anesthetic for numbing. I was awake and talking the entire time. The only thing that took a bit of time was working around some scar tissue that had formed around my catheter. However I would say the actual procedure itself took about a half an hour to 40 minutes. Then I just had to stay in recovery for another hour before I went home. I felt completely fine about 10 mins into recovery and felt like I could go home.

They used internal stitches and then a couple layers of "super glue" over the incision so I have no stitches or steri-strips to deal with. It has been a little sore. I would say it was fairly sore for 2-3 days. I also had quite a bit of bruising. The doc said however that it could have been the result of all the scar tissue and that a lot of people don't have as much.

Well now I'm rambling. The main point I wanted to make is that I was really nervous about my port removal and I was pleasantly surprised at how smoothly it went. My main prob was that I have an 8 month old that I couldn't lift for about a week. Now that was rough. Other than that, easy peasy.

As far as your husband being away, that sucks, but if you have someone that could go along with you to the hospital and then maybe spend the afternoon with you that would probably be plenty. You should feel well enough to take care of yourself from there.

Hope that helps and keep us posted! Good luck!

Autumn