Need opinions...My friend has had a PICC line for two weeks and has been taking Rocephin and Clyndimyacin.
She has been doing well up until Saturday night when she had a fever at 101 degrees. The fever lasts all night and then abates in the morning and then goes down to 99 after taking Motrin 800 mg every three hours.
The PICC site is not red or angry. It is just a little warm and achey.
She has had the chills last night and today. The chills are really bad...her teeth are chattering and the bed was shaking.
She has had days when she is feeling better and then others when she is really feeling crummy.
She got the PICC after seeing an infectious disease doctor with really bad sinus and respitory infections that were not going away.
We became friends in school. After hearing about her history and family medical issues I really suspect she has tick borne illness but has had so much treatment for other things too that it is not real clear cut anymore.
She is afraid to get this PICC line pulled after such a short time of tX. But of course her doc is concerned about sepsis infection.
To me it sounds like a bad herx but I know as well as her that sepsis is nothing to play around with.
Just want some opinions from PICC line patients.
Thanks!
Posted by imanurse (Member # 7022) on :
Did they do blood cultures?
Posted by Lymied (Member # 6704) on :
Yes they did blood work yesterday - the CBC was normal...she is not sure if they did a culture.
He wants to pull it now and culture the line.
What is your gut feeling?
Posted by 5dana8 (Member # 7935) on :
my gut feeling is they should do some cultures. Not worth taking chance.
Do they really have to pull the line to do the cultures?
Posted by Lymied (Member # 6704) on :
Thanks for the replies. I talked to a friend of mine who had a PICC for many months and she explained that you can even have a bacterial infection that is not full blown sepsis but that come and go.
The culture tests just from blood take days to report and by the time the report is complete a person could be extremely ill or no longer with us.
So I get the feeling better safe than sorry but it is frustrating.
I do not all the differences between testing the line itself vs. the blood...I am assuming it is easier to test the line and that if it is in the line then it is definitely in the blood...
then there is the bacterial infection vs. fungal infection issue.
My friend is at the ID doctor's right now so we shall see what they decide.
Thanks again.
Posted by von (Member # 8333) on :
So the area of the picc is not angry?
'warm' like the rest of the body, or warmer?
How about other symptoms?
C. diff? (I got that just after IV antibiotics.)
First symptoms for me were fever, chest pains and increased heart rate. Didn't relize a intestional connection. It came on over a few days period of time.
Wouldn't sepsis originating from the picc line (blood) cause a abnormal CBC?
Posted by OptiMisTick (Member # 399) on :