Veins on FEC

Hi

I was fortunate to be offered a PORT or PICC before my chemo started, having spoken to a long term chemo recipient who had had both I was steered towards PORT - yep needs an op to insert but no need for regular flushing, its inserted and then you're off.  I would highly recommend.

Mine was done in 1 hour and recovered in 2 weeks (not painful at all) and made it so easy for me and the nurses to give blood and get all those drugs in me.  Unfortunately elsewhere in my hospital wasn't quite so adept at using PORTs so needed to be cannulated for contrast during scans and even though I'd only had one chemo via cannula it was a real job (and painful at times) trying to get those cannulas in.

Even now my viens are still quite pants!

I did have to wait a month to have the PORT installed so you may only get the benefit for 2 cycles?

Good luck with remaining chemo

Sam

Hi  I had EC x6 and by no 3 I had painful lumpy tracks in arm . Onco said these were thrombophlebitis ( not life threatening) and marks could take a while to go .

The method used to ease this was an extra bag of saline at end of each chemo to wash vein out . This worked along with some gentle soapy massage . Pain was relieved and  Just over a year later the tracks on arm are hardly noticeable.

hope this helps 

Bloody hell ! Got Samaritan message again !

Hi, I had a PICC line inserted after my second round of chemo as the nurses had difficulty injecting my veins. I was dreading it as I thought I would constantly feel the discomfort of having a foreign object in my arm. But it was absolutely fine and made it so much easier to have the next four rounds of chemo. I was given a waterproof sleeve to wear in the shower and a district nurse called every week to change the dressing. It only takes about 15 minutes to have the PICC line inserted. It was removed immediately after my last chemo session without any difficulty. Best of luck, whatever you decide.

Hi

Congratulations on getting through the FEC - it can be very tough on your veins. It's very important that you mention this pain to your onco team and chemo unit - it could be nothing but could also be a blood clot. Don't get alarmed by that - it's only an issue if any part of the clot becomes loose. When I had treatment, I had a clot from my wrist to half way up my upper arm and it was diagnosed because of the pain I felt in my veins - I was given daily blood thinners to inject and a Hickman line. Whatever you do, don't massage it until it has been investigated by your team and only if that's what they advise. 

Again, don't be frightened, this isn't that unusual - but do get it checked out.

R