I have a hickman central port line. It's made of saline plastic and the end of the line come out of my chest. There is a clamp and a cap at the end.
Four weeks ago I was changing and it got caught on my shirt and I pulled it pretty hard. Blood came to the incision site and I went to the ER.
I made them do X-rays even though they said I was fine. They acted like it was no big deal (just like they always do when I go to the ER) but my chest hurt SO badly.
I made them show me the x-rays too-and everything looked fine. However, I still have a lot of pain in my chest, you can fill where I ripped the breast tissue and now it's starting to bleed again.
It's not a lot of blood, just a little bit, and it's not all the time. But I can't touch the area where it's swollen-it hurts too much. I can feel the tube under my skin.
The port appears to be working fine. I infuse daily with no problems. I guess my concern is that it's still swollen, hurts, and bleeds.
Has this happened to anyone? Should I be concerned? I've had the port for just over a year. With NO problems. I used to wear covaderm dressing because i am allergic to tagaderm and almost all tape.
I don't wear a dressing now because my skin is SO raw, so I don't know if that has something to do with it as well.
Any advice would be great. Both my doctors are aware of the issue.
Lindsay
Posted by minoucat (Member # 5175) on :
The only (!) problem the hubby had with his mediport was a blood clot. This was identified by ultrasound and MRI. Symptoms were pain in the port area, swelling from above the port (jugular vein) to below the port (subclavian vein) with pain in his arm and around the port, and fever.
No one -- not the nurses, not the doctor -- caught it until it was really serious and we insisted on an ultrasound.
The line seemed to flush fine, although a little slowly, so line flushing was not a good indicator of problems. He was never able to have blood drawn through the port, but that's not uncommon according to the IV nurses.
I dunno what x-rays would show you -- they're pretty much hard tissue only.
Blood is very irritating, so your pain around the port may be caused by interstitial bleeding. I wouldn't fool around with it though -- I'd ask for an ultrasound or MRI.
I was astounded by how casually and constantly our concerns were dismissed, and how many people missed the major signs.
He has a PICC line now, after the first lot (who inserted the port) said it couldn't be done. A really excellent IV nurse used Ativan (to relax him) and Nitro paste (on the end of the catheter, to dialate the vein) to put in the PICC, 10 minutes total, no muss no fuss, PICC works great.
But because of the clot he has to take Cumadin which is an epic pain and is contraindicated with a bunch of abx and other drugs.
Best of luck.
Posted by ReneWV (Member # 13476) on :
Since you have had the central line in awhile your skin adheres and heals against the catheter. You probably pulled loose the tissue from the catheter underneath. That's what hurts, like a fresh paper cut. If the X-ray showed it in the vein/heart area where it's suppose to be then you are fine.It can get dislodged an inch or so and still be in place. The oozing blood is from the tissue underneath that you jerked on. If you are using Heparin flushes, that is a blood thinner and your blood is thinner. As long as your med goes in easy you should be fine. You should do a sterile cleaning of the site and cover it with the clear dressing so germs don't get in !! Rene RN