looking to connect with others experiencing what I am about to go through...

Hi Rockinn,  I have been on this journey for a long time now first diagnosed 2004. I have never had a PICC line inserted they did try when i was first diagnosed with breast cancer and they could not get it in and i have been forever grateful they did not.I don.t mean to upset you but think about it very carefully. Many of us think they are used to readerly, it can take time to get the canulars into the back of your hand or where ever they decide to place it, and our veins don,t always do has they are told, the PICC line does make it easier. But please remember they are in for a long time and need flushing out every month and they do get in the way of things or so i have been told. What i am going to say is not to scare you in any way but they can get infected i have known quite a few people who this has happened to and they have ended up in hospital quite poorly. This is only a suggestion why don,t you have a chat to the oncology nurse and see if you could possibly try it with a canular first and see how it goes then if there is a problem with them getting the needle in you can look into the PICC line. You will be surprised how many times they will have to keep trying to find a good vein this does not mean yours are bad its like this for most people, i could be there 2 hours with warm wheat bags on my veins trying to coax them to the surface but in my opinion well worth the wait rather than have a PICC line. I don,t want to sound negative about PICCS as sometimes they are definitely needed but sometimes i think they are put in to make things easier for the nurses to put in any meds, but not so easy for the patient who has to live with them.I hope this helps you look at it a different way and maybe question the reasons why first, its a long road and we must always question anything. I wish you all the best for the future and i hope you have a lovely wedding day. Take care and keep safe xx

Thank you wino, I will certainly discuss my options over again as I do think it came up quickly and I was not informed of options. I am now going to try find out more. Your correct I do feel I should step back and instead of listening and going with the flow question a little more. Its typical though the questions only surface after you processed the information and normally not at your appointments.

Best wishes to you too x

Hi Rockinn,  I had  a PICC line when I had my  chemotherapy which started in 2019, I found it very easy,  I used the limbo sleeve when I had a shower so it didn’t get wet and I had a tube bandage to keep it out of the way, I had a canular for the first appointment,  I had the line for the rest of my treatment as it was every two weeks at the start for four rounds and then every week for eight week I also had my bloods done via the line.  I had it fitted under local anesthesia, it took 30 mins, had an x-ray to check it was in the right place. I had it flushed the week in between when I was having treatment every two weeks, hope that was helpful. 

Hi bajie, Thank you for putting the opposing side to wino.

I spent the evening debating this and decided to email my breast care nurse for a discussion. My treatment involves me going weekly for the first 10 weeks and am wondering about the healing and damage also so many injections could have. I am very appreciative of the feed back to this 

Could I ask you about your decision to go from a cannula to a PICC? was you presented with something to change or was it through questioning others?

Kind Regards

It was from chatting to my breast care nurse and other people, she gave me some information about the different between PICC lines and Ports, I did some research and watched a couple of videos on the Macmilian site and decided,  I didn't feel like having the candular going in my hand every week.

Hi Rockinn I was diagnosed in May and presently undergoing two weekly chemo sessions third session was today. After the next session it will increase to 12 weekly sessions. I have a port underneath my skin near the collarbone and I must say so far so good. Not going to lie it was painful when it was inserted but now I don’t even notice it. It makes showering so much easier as once it had healed you don’t have to cover it. Is that an option you have been given.

hope you have a lovely wedding day and stay safe xx

Hi Erika21, No this is not what I was offered. I have been offered a PICC line which is a cathater which is inserted into the upper arm and I pipe feed to a vein  above the heart. Yours sounds interesting? I will search my options and am waiting to discuss them with my breast care nurse. How are you sleeping with yours? 

Hi Erika21, No this is not what I was offered. I have been offered a PICC line which is a cathater which is inserted into the upper arm and I pipe feed to a vein  above the heart. Yours sounds interesting? I will search my options and am waiting to discuss them with my breast care nurse. How are you sleeping with yours? 

Hi Rockinn

sleeping is fine I don’t even notice it, as it was a procedure where they insert the port under your skin with a small incision and it is connected with a pipe to the vein by your heart. You cannot see the port they just inject straight into it when the chemo is administered. Definitely worth looking into.  It was a bit sore initially as it’s done with local anaesthetic but after a week I didn’t notice it.
Just makes life that little bit easier as you can shower normally and I haven’t got any bits dangling