Now that we have the picc line and he came home the nurse came one time to show us how to flush the line and?

Question

how to hook up the antibiotics and now we had to go back to the hospital saturday after the second time of doing this for a blood clot. Is blood clots normal that quick? Now they are giving him blood thinner then going to put the picc line in the other arm or the neck. Im afraid of him getting blood clots again and it becoming serious trouble any input to all this would be appreciated.

Answer 1

Hey, I just got my PICC taken out January 6, after having it in for a whopping five months!

Yup, I had to go to the hospital too for clot busters. Then two weeks later it got infected and had to be taken out and reinserted...go figure.

Yeah, it's really easy for clots to build up in the line. I had to flush mine every 12 hours first with 3ml saline and then 3ml of heparin. It's really important to have that heparin. If he still clotted with that, ask the home health nurse if you can flush every six hours.

And when you flush, don't be afraid to use a little bit (not too too much) of force. It shouldn't go in faster than 3ml per second. That seemed to keep any future clots away for me.

Don't forget SASH -- Saline, Antibiotic, Saline, Heparin.

DON'T BE AFRAID TO BE OVERLY CAUTIOuS ABOUT INFECTIONS! I got really sick with mine. Report right away any signs of fever, chills, agitation, redness on PICC site, soreness (that is not usually for the PICC), ANY discharge coming from the site.

Oh, one more thing....it totally stinks that they keep you awake for this procedure. I pleaded for a sedative when I had to have my second one put in. Finally, my primary doctor prescribed me a Valium to take one hour before the procedure. It really, really helped! Please try to do the same.

The best method of keeping my PICC dry for a shower sounds a little wierd, but it really worked, and keeping water out keeps infection away.

Place a clean washcloth over the PICC site. Then saran wrap it over and over again, careful not to wrap too hard as to cut circulation. Then, I took an ace bandage wrap and wrapped it over that. It kept water from seeping into the saran.

If you have any questions, concerns, or just need to talk, please don't hesitate to email me. I know what a PICC is like, and I too was on powerful antibiotics

If he has to be put on oral anticoagulants, I would recommend reading the useful information on the website below. It's tough being on them (I take them too), but it will only be temporary.

Please take care, and God Bless you,
Chris

Answer 2

It's hard to know exactly without knowing his diagnosis. However, any patient who has a PICC line obviously has a very serious disorder/recovery/etc. Yes, blood clots are very common with folks that have a PICC line. The blood thinner is the most common and effective treatment of preventing any future ones though, so I would feel fairly confident in that.

Answer 3

Obviously, he has a clotting issue or he wouldn't be on blood thinners. Sounds to me they need to adjust his Coumadin (or is he on Heparin?) levels. It's normal for it to take a little while to get it just right. My sister is on Coumadin and they have to adjust it every so often, too. This is after 11 years. No biggie.