PICC line dressing

Hi, don’t know if this is any help to you. I had skin reaction to my picc line, my district nurses put a coating of second skin on and a different type of dressing. It did help enormously, the other thing is not get it wet. I was given a waterproof sleeve for in the shower, sorry I don’t know exactly what it’s called. It may be worth keeping a check on your temperature in case picc becomes infected. 
wishing you all the best

Hello

i did have a reaction to my Picc dressing. I think what started it was the alcohol swabs they use to clean the area. These made my skin very sore and blistered. They changed to iodine to clean the area and then applied comfort dressings. I was fine on those. It is now on my records that I am allergic to white dressings. Also it must be kept dry and I used a waterproof sleeve which I got off Amazon. 

I had my picc line fit on Friday and I bled a little from the incision so I went back and they put a different dressing on.  The new one is different and not as substantial and it's making my arm itch....but I don't think it's infected or anything. I can't imagine this will stay on a week.

What does your reaction look like/feel like? 

Iev got blisters and itchiness. They put some white dressing in with a barrier cream on top. I won't have it changed for 2 weeks now but it is starting to get a bit sore so I might have to go for a redress sooner than that. I've got one more cycle to go in 2 weeks so hopefully I can make it.

Oh no have you have these issues all the way through chemo? I've just noticed some water blistered under the clear dressing and it's really itchy. I'll have to go get it sorted tomorrow. I only had the line put in Friday!!

No, I've had the PICC since May and it's been ok. Every time I reacted they put a different type of plaster on and then the skin would calm down a bit for few weeks.  But I am now on the last plaster, there is no more to give me if I react to this one. Already have a blister underneath from previous plaster so I'm hoping that will heal. But not sure with getting slight pain. I'm just worried they'll have to take the PICC out if they can't cover it. 

My PICC was quite sore when I had it fitted, but only for about 3 days and then uncomfortable for up to a week.  It settled then and touch wood not had any issues with it. Apart from skin reactions every few weeks from the plasters.

Sounds like a nightmare. I can see two blisters one is right on the edge of the dressing and it's sooooo itchy. 

How was your chemo? Bet you are so glad you're almost done. 

You need to go and get it redressed asap, risk of infection is too high , and you don't want that to get to the PICC, very dangerous. Make sure you go as soon as you can!

I had 12 paclitaxel and 4 EC. Paclitaxel wasn't too bad, just after first dose I got Infection, but after that it was manageable. Fatigue probably the biggest issue. And my nails, they all gone purple, all the colours of the rainbow and started lifting.  My first EC dose was too high for me, got blood cloth on my lungs , they lowered the dose after that.  But EC is one horrible brutal drug. Heartburn is unbelievable, and tiredness again, overall hangover feeling.

What chemo are you having? I don't wanna scare you, everyone reacts differently to these drugs.  You can definitely do it, take one day at the time and rest a lot!

I can finally see the end of the tunnel now. It's been a long journey, but not finished yet.  I'm moving on to RT now.

Do you think I need to sort my dressing before tomorrow morning? No where is open at this time to redress it. Will tomorrow at 8-9am be OK?

I'm having 3 x EC and 3 x Docetaxel.  I heard mixes reports. Some have it hard and some have gotten off lightly. I'm hope I'm one of the latter obviously.  Hope your RT goes well. It should be as bad as chemo. X