i ended up in the ER tonight. couldn't get a blood return on either of my 2 lumens. nothing would go in either. doctor at the ER removed the cap and pulled back - no blood return but could flush easily with a little saline. put heparin in both lumens and said to go next week and get it pulled at the hospital that did the insertion on Feb 22! not even one month ago. this is my second picc line.
the doctor said the picc isn't dislodged but it isn't in proper place hence why no blood return. i had an iv yesterday and it ran perfectly and flushed perfectly and now this. don't know what happened to move it out of place. i've got a stat lock on don't know why this happened.
anyone have this trouble with picc lines? my first one got clotted. i flushed it daily as directed all the time and still had problems.
Posted by bsigel (Member # 11810) on :
Hi Catwoman, Are they doing blood draws out of your PICC line for labs every 2 weeks? If so, do not let them draw blood out of PICC line anymore. Blood is sticky and it would probably be best if they don't do blood draws from the PICC.
Sometimes, it is the way your arm is positioned that the meds won't drip in. I stick a pillow under my daughter's arm sometimes or just repositioning the arm may help. Sorry to hear you are going to have to have it pulled.
Posted by CatWoman (Member # 10900) on :
no i've never had a blood draw from my picc line. my doctor said no blood draws at all.
Posted by Fordace (Member # 14874) on :
When my picc line wouldn't pull or push, it ended up being the blue end valve thing that was screwed up, I replaced it myself, drew back and flushed some saline and it was fine after that. I only flushed it once a day with half the heparin syringe too.......
Posted by CatWoman (Member # 10900) on :
my picc lines have been inserted under flouroscopy. i have had 2 bard power piccs and always flush using positive pressure.
the first one clotted because i was getting crappy homecare nursing and didn't realize it. picc was being pulled out slightly w/each dreasing change. my new nurse is good.
there's no clot in this one it is just not sitting in the vein correctly.