Hi,
My mum, who has non curable cancer that has spread from bowel to lymph nodes, both lungs and liver, has been offered a course of treatment to potentially lengthen her life. The cancer drugs would be administered by way of a PICC line into a vein in her chest and the line would be left in place in the arm. The infusions would take place over 48hrs and therefore she will be sent home with the pump fitted to the line. She is extremely anxious about having the line put in place. Can anyone out there let me know of their experiences of PICC lines and if it is as daunting as it sounds or, hopefully, not!. Thank you in advance. Chris.
Hi . I am not from this group, but did have a PICC line in for several months for my own cancer (bladder). I found it totally painless going in. After insertion, a quick chest x-ray is done to check it is properly in place. Once in, there is a small cannula on the end which is covered with a dressing. It is not painful or uncomfortable and you can pretty well carry on as normal as long as no heavy lifting or strenuous exercise. It will need to be flushed out once a week to keep it from getting blocked. Done by a nurse and again painless. Important not to get it wet to prevent infection. You can get waterproof covers for bath or shower, but I made do with clingfilm. I also bought a roll of tubi grip, the elastic bandage, and cut a fresh piece off each day to keep it covered and tidy. The infusion pump is similar to a baby's bottle. Kept in a pouch on a belt. The only problem is working out how to get clothes on as you cannot take it off. Once you work out how, it's no problem. In bed, I tried various ways of how to keep the bottle, but found the best way was to keep it in the pouch on my waist and had no problems sleeping. I had a bottle for a week at a time. Because the drugs are infused so slowly over a long period, any side effects are kept to a minimum. Hope this goes to reassuring mum. Best wishes.
