My port is still new, so I remember the routine with peripherals quite well. For me, my veins were a disaster. Last year I wasn't able to get scheduled for a picc line until after like 5 days of being in the hospital (the IR's machine was broken!), and they started peripherials while I waited. It was miserable. Basically my veins can only handle the meds in that fashion for 1 day or less before they blow. Yes, it's painful. If it's only for 1 or 2 days, no problem, as I can deal with some pain. After that 5th day, 1 peripherial a day, I was soooo relieved to finally get that picc line in! I guess it depends on how sick you feel. If you can wait 2-3 days to actually start, then that's what I would do for sure. If you're really sick and need the IVs pronto, then you just have to get poked with peripherials. It sucks.
Don't know how you feel about ports, but all this torture with peripherials, and waiting for the IR guys to schedule my picc was when I finally had enough and wanted a port. It was based on wanting a pain free situation when I needed a tune up. Before that I was still ready to cope with it all.
Don't know how you feel about ports, but all this torture with peripherials, and waiting for the IR guys to schedule my picc was when I finally had enough and wanted a port. It was based on wanting a pain free situation when I needed a tune up. Before that I was still ready to cope with it all.