permacath infection

[frankieb]

Anybody ever have one?  How long did it take to get back to normal?

Scenario:  I have a current kidney transplant rejection    of 16 years ,    Two weeks ago I had to start dialysis.  I had a permacath put in and did dialysis three days in a row, my permacath oozed from day one.  On the fourth day it was taken out and another one put in.  Yesterday, I was going to the hospital for pre-admission testing but never made my appointment.  I decided to go to the ER because of  right shoulder pain.   I have a high tolerance for pain, so believe me when I say from a scale 1-10 this was an eleven.  I left the ER after 10 hours of waiting in pain with a script for an MRI and pain meds.   Today, I woke with my hand bloated and painful.  After my MRI I had dialysis, the nurses concluded that I had an infection.  Low-grade fever and warmer than average right arm and PAIN.  After a visit from my doc I was told that I'd be getting some I.V. antibiotics.  My hand is still painful, the shoulder less.         Oh, how I hate permacaths.

[okarol]

hi frankie,
I have no experience with a permacath infection, but it sounds awful! I hope you get some relief soon. 

[Sluff]

I'm so sorry frankieb to hear of the transplant rejection and the problems you are experiencing with your permacath.  Hope you find some answers.

[MyssAnne]

Man, when it rains, it pours, doesn't it? I sure hope the antibiotics kick in and start their job.  Hang in there! 

[stauffenberg]

My sole access for dialysis was a permcath, which became infected only three times from December, 1996 to August, 2003.  Each time, the infection was caused either by my accidentally letting it get wet during bathing or by me or a nurse forgeting to wear a mask throughout the period when the permcath was open to the air for hooking up to the machine or removing it from the machine.  Eact infection cleared up with some antibitotics and a change of permcaths.  I would heartily recommend a permcath over any other type of access, because: 1) it takes no time to mature before you can use it; 2) you don't have to do any exercises to develop it; 3) it does not break down the way fistulas do; 4) it cannot fail to work from the start the way some fistulas do; 5) there are no painful fistulagrams to endure; 6) it is not permanently disfiguring the way a fistula is, since it comes out when you don't need it anymore; 7) it leaves both hands free during dialysis; there is absolutely no pain in being hooked up to the machine or taken off from it; 9) there is no problem with recirculation; 10) pump speeds can be very high -- mine could go up to 500, for example; 11) it does not interfere with the nerves or blood supply of the arm or hand; 12) there is no problem with infiltration or repeated needling to get the right access.  The only downside to weigh against these twelve clear advantages is the heightened danger of infection, which the patient can largely preent through a little vigilance.

[Bear]

Anybody ever have one?  How long did it take to get back to normal?
  Simple answer: ages
  IN my case I had a left upper-arm fistula & had been doing home haemo for a year, when the arterial buttonhole
  got infected. 3 & a half weeks in hospital & in the end I lost the fistula & had a right-side chest permacath, which
  I had for 7 months, no trouble, while they tried to create new fistulas - 2 at the wrist failed, right upper arm is
  going, but I'm waiting forrevisional surgery. When I got a scan on the workign fistula arm, they found clotting around
  the permacath, so out she came & I had one on the left side...warfarinised & sent home a week later....back in by
  ambulance a week later. Out with the new cat, in with a femoral for 9 days.....now I'm, the 'lucky' owner of a
  trans-lumbar cath, which only the longer-serving dx nurses have seen before.
  Sorry to hear you lost a transplant, but 16 years was a pretty good run, eh?
  best of luck...
                              Bear