My husband went to get his first IV glutathione push today at the LLMD's office. The nurse seemed like he had never done
one before. He kept on making mistakes. A few examples--he tried to inject it with the band
still around my husband's arm, and then at the end when he took it out, blood started going up
the line, and he was scrambling to stop it. My husband also alerted him to an air bubble before
he started, but he said that was fine. Are air bubbles actually fine, or are they dangerous? This
really concerned me to hear all this. The doctor said something about getting something inserted
in the arm that can stay in for a few days, so that my husband can inject himself one day a
week. The nurse said that's something the doctor would need to insert, but the doctor said
the nurse could do it. If the nurse is not comfortable doing it, I sure don't want him
doing it. But if the doctor does it, it could mean waiting around for an hour each time. My
husband has a full time job so we just don't know how this is going to work out.
Are there centers in hospitals or outpatient clinics where people can go to get IV's? Also,
the LLMD's office is pretty far away, and will be inconvenient to go to twice a week, even if
he didn't have to wait around for hours.
Posted by Snailhead (Member # 18091) on :
Wow. A couple of thoughts: first, I have a PICC line in, and my at home nurse told me you'd need to shove a cup of air up the line before there would be a problem. Not that I'm going to do that, but it made me feel better about a bubble or two.
Does the drs. office have a different nurse, that could perhaps help your husband? If it were me, I don't think this last one you had would get a second chance.
As far as "having something inserted" for your husband to do his own injections, again, I currently have a PICC line in which I do IV pushes of ceftriaxone and also saline flushes. Is that what they were talking about giving your husband? Because that is inserted as an inpatient procedure at radiology, definately not by a nurse in a doctors office.
Posted by Janice70 (Member # 16319) on :
Perhaps the physician assistant could do it. I don't know how to ask for that without it being awkward. I'm not sure the PA would be any better, though. She totally botched my husband's first bicillin injection.
It's not a PICC line the doctor was talking about. Oh, my husband just told me--it's a peripheral line.
Posted by eagle (Member # 19278) on :
Janice, Is this for real? If so, these people sound like clowns and I'd be concerned about being under their care. The glutatione push incident sounds downright bizarre even though I dont think small air bubbles are dangerous (at least from what I've heard).
How on earth could you LLMD's assistant not know how to do a Bicillin injection? That alone would concern me.
Posted by Lisa1230 (Member # 17525) on :
My daughter gets peripheral lines because she cannot get a PICC line or port. They last a couple to four days at a time. She does the "push" method for rocephin and it works out fine. We are lucky that our doctor's office has an infusion section that does this everyday if need be. I think the nurses insert midlines, too.