posted
First, let me say that all the medical personnel we have spoken to say they have never seen this before.
Just want to let you all know it is possible since it happened to us, so you can be sure it doesn't happen to you.
When my husband Bill had his PICC line removed last week, the nurse put a folded up piece of gauze over the incision site and pulled the line out slowly.
The nurse held pressure on it for a minute then taped the gauze tightly to his arm and said to leave it on for at least 30 minutes.
We did some errands and arrived home about 3 hours later. When we began to remove the bandage we discovered there was a clear looking tube coming out of his arm with a bloody end dried to the bandage.
When we moved it, the clear tube filled with blood, and we realized that it was his vein.
Evidently, when they removed the line, Bill's vein had broken, been pulled out of his arm, and stuck onto the bandage.
We immediately reapplied pressure and took him to the emergency room. They tied it off with dissolving stitch material, and put the vein back in his arm.
The doctor said the other end of the broken vein had already clotted off and that Bill would be fine. No problem.
Freaked us out!!! So the lesson here is that the nurse should look at the PICC site visually before you are released, just to be sure that everything looks OK.
Had he gone home, taken a nap, and the vein had bled, it could have been very bad.
Bill is fine, and all will be well. Could have lived without the experience though. =)
-------------------- Wishing You Showers Of Blessings! Lyme since Fall 1983 = Diagnosed Summer 2008 IV Rocephin 7 weeks Stopped due to drug fever Now doxycycline "For I know the plans I have for you...plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11 Posts: 430 | From Sunny South | Registered: Jul 2008
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feelfit
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 12770
posted
Wow!
I'm glad that everything worked out in the end.
Feelfit
Posts: 3975 | From usa | Registered: Aug 2007
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sammy
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 13952
posted
How scary! Thank God you checked the site in time and got the help he needed. Thank you for sharing your experience with us.
Posts: 5237 | From here | Registered: Nov 2007
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posted
Wow, that sounds nasty! Can you say INFECTION?
We had a similar type picc line removal experience. When they remove the line, they are supposed to measure it to be sure it is the same length coming out as it was going in. When RN removed it, after lots of heat and pulling, it was 2+ inches shorter than the measurements of it on insertion. She was dumbfounded, had never had it happen before. My assumption was that it had broken off inside from all the pulling. I told her after she called 911 she could call anyone she wanted. A trip to the ER on a blistering hot July day. An x-ray did not show any line still in hubby. They finally pulled up the surgical record and discovered that the Dr. inserting it had cut 2 inches off before insertion. The assisting tech had been in a hurry and just noted the original length of the line upon removal from the kit.
Oh the things you learn with Lyme that you never wanted to have to know! I won't tell you about all the other crap we had to endure during that ER visit with the Lyme diagnois and long term treatment. Let's just say we won't be going there again unless we are in a coma!
Wizard
Posts: 252 | From USA | Registered: Sep 2003
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-------------------- Wishing You Showers Of Blessings! Lyme since Fall 1983 = Diagnosed Summer 2008 IV Rocephin 7 weeks Stopped due to drug fever Now doxycycline "For I know the plans I have for you...plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11 Posts: 430 | From Sunny South | Registered: Jul 2008
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