The day my perma cath came out- Funny and A bit scary lol

[karen547]

I can remember that day as if it were yesterday- I noticed a  lil blood coming from the site where my catheter was. I somehow thought that a band aid would fix the problem and went on with getting dressed-  well I looked down and now I was soaking in blood again! Then to my horror , the catheter just slipped out- I ran into my parents room, my mom was on the phone with my sister, well her eyes bugged out of her head and she immediately tells my sister shes gotta go and that I'm gushing blood from my neck. My mom calls the ambulance, and Im on the bathroom floor putting direct pressure on the site, I'm calm but my mom was a bit freaked; ok a lot freaked!~  Meanwhile , the EMT's come and I'm taken to the hospital. I keep asking am I gonna bleed to death?? They just smiled and said no, we won't let that happen. I wait like 5 hours in the ER just for them to tell me my catheter came out 
I get to go home and the next day I had the catheter replaced. The End....... Well the catheter came out again but thats a different story lol

[angela515]

I remember when mine came out.... I was getting changing shirts... took my shirt off.. seen my perma cath in it, looked at my chest and was like WTF?... Grabbed some gauze, put it over the hole and put pressure, grabbed my perma cath, put a shirt on.. went to the ER and handed my perma cath to the triage lady and she was like... oh OK, let's get  you back there right away... went back, seen the Dr... got my surgery scheduled to get another one in... bing bang boom..  no big deal

[Redbomb]

You know, this is the one thing that I'm concerned of too!  I'm glad to hear that there were at least two people who have gone through this.  I'm concerned that it will pull out at night and I'll not wake up. 

Here's to hoping that it will never happen!

[kitkatz]

I had a catheter come ou o fmy chest. I got up one morning looked down and the catheter fell into my hands.  I promptly panicked and called the ER. They said to come in and they would look at me. I did and we did it all again.

[Adam_W]

Shortly before my catheter was supposed to be taken out for good (or at least until my graft dies), the stitch came loose, and I was afraid it was going to come out, so I had lots of tape over it to make sure it didn't come out. When I finally went in to have it taken out, I found out that it wouldn't have gone anywhere. The stitch was completely off, but the cuff was holding my skin so tight, the nurse had to yank REALLY hard to pull it out. It was a good thing she gave me lidocain because I could actually feel it rip loose when she pulled it.

Adam

[Bajanne]

This most definitely sounds scary.  Thank goodness mine never came out.  Why it seems scary is that usually the catheter is hooked up to some serious arteries, and I thought you would bleed to death if it came out.  Glad to hear you guys made it through okay.

[icecream]

My story is alittle different.I had my perm cath in for a year and a half.Well the day they took it out the dr had a hard time getting it out.What happened is the tissue around the cath grew into th cath.She had to cut the tissue around the cath to get it detached.Boy was i scared when she finally got it and i seen how long the tube was that was inside me.I hope i never have to get one of those again....

[terry3004]

I had this happen to me as well.

I got up one morning to head to dialysis, and I was feeling wet.  Well, I figured I had just been sweating while I was sleeping (it was still night).  I got out of bed and started walking toward the bathroom and heard something land on the floor.  I made it to the bathroom, and turned the light on to see my night shirt covered in blood 

I immediately grabbed a handful of napkins to put over the site, and called back into the bedroom at my wife "Hun, I need an ambulance."  I have never seen my wife move so fast!  I was sitting on top of the toilet holding the pressure while my wife was running around calling EMS, putting the animals away, getting presentable, and watch outside for EMS (our house is hidden off the street).  Once she got off the phone, I called my dialysis center to tell them that I wouldn't be in, and my tech started freaking out as well, telling me to sit down, apply pressure, and drink lots of water (stuff I have already done).

By the time EMS got there (about 5 min for first responders), the bleeding had already stopped, and I was just sitting in my bathroom still trying to finish waking up and comprehend what all had happened.  They took my vitals and checked me over.  It was determined that I was going to be ok, but still had to go to the hospital to put something back in the hole.  Once the ambulance got there, I got in, and went to the hospital (didn't have to take the ambulance, but the wait at the ER of the hospital can be soooo long that I figured the ambulance ride would be my ticket to the express line  )

Once I got to the hospital, I found out that I wasn't going to be able to get a new perma cath that day.  My potassium level was 7.1 and because of that, they weren't going to use any anesthesia to put in a new perma cath (darn Monopoly promotion at McD  ).  They put a shiley cath in and sent me down to dialysis to try to get my potassium level down and they would check it again in the morning.  Well, the next morning, it was back somewhere in the 5 range, so I got a new perma cath placed in my shoulder.

That was the last catheter that I had, and it stayed for over a year.  When it did come out, I found out that it basically had to be cut away from me...it had kinda grown on me. 

Also, the weekend after all that happened, while I was at dialysis, my 3 1/2 year old son came into my bathroom with my wife, saw the catheter laying there in my sink, and told my wife "Daddy forgot his hose!!!"