Picc line associated blood clot and chest infection

Hi Mucca, I'm one of the Community Champions in this group and just picked up your post. How frustrating it must be to have your treatment delayed but issues like this aren’t that unusual.  I hope the antibiotics do their trick quickly and you get back on track soon, best wishes 

Yes I had a PICC line blood clot - the line was removed and I had apixaban blood thinner prescribed for 4 weeks. I understand however that it’s not always necessary to remove the PICC line after a blood clot so don’t worry if that doesn’t happen. The chemo nurse was pretty annoyed that a&e removed the PICC line as my veins were rubbish! This was after my 5 chemo session.  

I also had a chest infection after my last - sixth - chemo - the chemo nurses told me to go to a&e where I had IV antibiotics and was prescribed amoxicillin & doxycycline  (antibiotics) to take for 2 weeks. I had seen my GP two weeks earlier and she’d refused to prescribe antibiotics as “it’s viral”. I wasn’t impressed to end up in a&e later on! 

It wasn’t a particularly fun time and I really feel for you. However it was all resolved by antibiotics and blood thinners - I felt much better on both within a few days. Do speak with your team if you don’t feel better. 

Hello

i I had a nightmare with my PICC line. It moved and so they took it out to replace it. After 2 hours and trying multiple vessels, it wouldn’t follow the right pathway and was instead recoiling on itself. Left my veins in a mess. Turned out I had quite substantial clotting running from the arm up to above my arm pit and across my chest. Had a hospital stay of 4 nights and on high dose of blood thinners as well as antibiotics as had an infection on the arm as well.

I now have a portacath as nothing can be administered in that arm for 6mths and still had 5 rounds of chemo left and the other arm had lymph nodes removed so not to be used either. The portacath had been soooo much better and safer. Still very tender where my clots were and have requested another ultrasound to check the status as it didn’t still right with me to just assume after 6mths of apixaban that they would just be gone-I’d rather know than assume.

hope you’re doing OK now? 

Hi Mucca

I feel your pain. I remember on my second round of chemo when the nurse put the needle on my vein it gave me a sharp pain. I told the nurse it was hurting a lot but she said it was normal. After 30 minutes my hand was swollen, then another nurse noticed it and said she would have to remove the needle and find another vein which she did.

I remember that night after the chemo session I cried all night. My arm was absolutely killing me with pain. I started running back to assessment unit day after day, but was told there was nothing wrong. On my third week before I was due for next round chemo, I insisted I was not ready for it as I was having severe pain. I was sent for scan and as I suspected it was blood clot. I cried in my husband's arm like a child as i dreaded the thought of blood thinning injection. 

Guess what! I was sent home with boxes of needles and a sharp bin. That was one hell of an experience injecting myself for the next six months, but I survived.....  i could not take aspirin as i was allergic to it...so injection everyday for six months was the only way  out....please keep positive... I know you will get through this because you are stronger than you think.. keep smiling