I Hate Dialysis Message Board
Dialysis Discussion => Dialysis: General Discussion => Topic started by: SweetyPie on July 30, 2018, 01:15:42 PM
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Hey all, so on Saturday night my cvc line felt sore. I am not sure if it's called a cvc or permacath. It's right at my collarbone. Not sure if anyone of you have experienced an infection before. So yeah it's been sore and today along the tube part where it's under my skin feels sore now. I feel normal besides the pain and I dont have a fever. Say it is an infection, what is the treatment? I really hope it isnt another problem I have to deal with.
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Where the cath first goes under your skin is always going to be a little sore and a lot itchy. If where it plunges into your chest is red......see a doctor ASAP. Nobody on a computer in a forum can diagnose you accurately from a posted question about anything especially cath lines. This line is a direct feed into your heart. If you get a cardiac infection or a blood infection it can be extremely serious.
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I totally understand nobody but a experienced doctor can diagnose an infection. I am educated in signs of infection. Out of all the signs all i have is pain. When I move my head to the side the line hurts, moving my arm the line hurts. It has hurt in the past but never like this. I do not have a fever and isnt that the first sign of infection? I have dialysis tomorrow I will tell the nurse. Will they send me off to the hospital or can infections like these be treated while at dialysis?
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Hi everyone thought I should give you guys an update. Since it seems nobody could answer my question because not many have experienced what I experienced I thought it's best to share in case someone else may have that similar problem.
So like I said, I started having pain on Saturday at the site of my cvc catheter. I assumed I slept on it wrongly. Another day parts of hurts a hit more. Monday comes and I can't touch the outside of my line it's that painful! It really hurts and Tuesday it was time for dialysis. I felt the same and the pain was still there as well they called the doctor and left a message... the doctor never resposnded. Not the first time.... anyways the nurse then tells me we will take a culture on THURSDAY. And if I feel worse go to the er. It seems like she took this problem very lightly. As she was saying this, I was texting my sister and giving updates and she was giving it to my parents. My dad says we arent taking any chances. My brother who picks me up drove us to the hospital emergency. I went in and the doctor took a look at it and saw the tunnel part where you can see the tube under your skin was red. It was there before! I almost lost it I said omg this is too much. Blah blah they talk me into getting it out with some help dilaudid andAva something like that helps you relax. With those medicines it was a breeze I don't rememeber much because of all the pain meds. The pain meds help I'm able to move my arms freely and enjoy dinner with my family who came to visit. The doctor would like to do 2 days antibiotics and third day replace the catheter
Someone please answer me did they put you under to place the new cath! I will die I can't be awake for these procedures!! Wish me luck!!
Sp mod Cas
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Hello AaishaDar,
I am so sorry for your experiences and I had once a terrible pain around the entrance of my chest-cath as well, where a little blood could be seen at the cath-entrance, because by accident at night, whilst still asleep, by sheer accident, one of my fingers went between the line and the entrance and "got entangled" by accident... I woke up instantly by the sharp pain and had a look and realized a little blood coming out and realized the mistake I had made and since then I have always secured my line outside with lots of tape very securely and fortunately it has all healed up again and has been alright, touch wood ... :bow;
I am very sorry for you and I know how painful it can be and wish you good luck.
Best wishes from Kristina. :grouphug;
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Hi Aaisha I'm sorry it turned out to be an infection. Just tell whoever puts a new one in to use the same stuff as when they took the infected one out.
Lots of luck and strength, Cas
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Thank you guys, I'm hanging in there. Dont know when I'm going home but hopefully tomorrow after surgery. It also sucks I got an Iv yesterday and it already went bad.
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None of the surgical procedures I've had were done without major numbing or conscious sedation. That pain is probably the least of your worries. I hope it goes well and that you can return to "normal."
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My new line will be placed on my left side now.
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My new line will be placed on my left side now.
Hello Aaisha, I do hope you have more luck with this new line and hopefully there won't be any pain anymore.
Lots of good-luck wishes from Kristina. :grouphug;
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My new line will be placed on my left side now.
My daughter was awake when they placed the temp and the perma-cath when she was on dialysis. They just number the site. They wanted her awake so they could ask questions :)
Good luck tomorrow! :grouphug;
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Twilight sleep for both of mine but I woke up during the last one when the surgeon started pounding the catheter into my chest.
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They were saying something about that. The nurses was talking to me and used the word twilight lol. I had to get a line in my inner thigh. I was not put under but I was sleeping knocked out. Lool. Hop2fully they do that for me.
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So after getting my line replaced onto my left side now I am home. Still going through antibiotics treatment. Before leaving I noticed my dressing was bloody. I told the nurse and she changed it after cleaning a whole bunch of blood. I am guessing I'm bleeding alot due to dialysis that morning because of the heparin. They changed it and put a special clot tape so it would soak all the blood plus more dressing. I see a light red color almost seeping through...what is going on? Why am I bleeding so much. Why cant I catch a break? Is this normal?
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Did they dc the heparin prior to the cath replacement?
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Everytime I get dislysis I get heparin. Other than that no I dont get heparin. This surgery hurt more than when I first got a cvc line. I'm so stressed
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The bleeding isn't necessarily from the Heparin added during Dialysis as that is short acting and should be totally worn of within a couple three hours.
More likely during the installation of the new line they hit and damaged a blood vessel and that hasn't clotted off yet. It may take time, or may yet need direct pressure to help it seal off.
When in doubt CALL your Dr and ask questions.
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What you're saying Charlie makes sense. I feel that could be it. I would try to put pressure on it but it hurts way too much :( sleeping was hard last night because of the pain
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They should change the dressing every time at your treatments, and should notice the blood. They should have noticed an infection too though. In theory, the heparin used for a treatment is removed by the machine by the end of that treatment, thoug I was once given too much and it wiped out all the clotting agent in my blood. The ER had to give me an IV of a drug to get it to clot and rebuild the clotting agent in my blood.
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Do you take any blood thinners? Even baby aspirin will cause bleeding. I take daily baby aspirin for my heart and ever since, I have been getting ugly bruises all over from bleeding. It doesn't take much sometimes.
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Not on any asprin, not taking anything actually except for my pain meds.
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K&S, I was given ridiculous stories about the bruising for a couple of years. Finally, I remembered to ask the cardiologist. He said it was due to reduced platelets from dialyisis. Finally something that made sense.
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K&S, I was given ridiculous stories about the bruising for a couple of years. Finally, I remembered to ask the cardiologist. He said it was due to reduced platelets from dialysis. Finally something that made sense.
Hmm. I wouldn't expect that to hold with PD, though as there is no blood removal. I don't think that the anemia that seems to afflict most dialysis patients has much to do with platelets, just red blood cells. Hmm.
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He does know that I am on HD so maybe he just did not point that out, but it seemed he was talking about reduced kidney function causing a decrease in the production of platelets.
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After dialysis i turned pale, i looked like a ghost everyone said that.what could be the cause? Im guessing my blood levels are low.
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After dialysis i turned pale, i looked like a ghost everyone said that.what could be the cause? Im guessing my blood levels are low.
Or infection? Were you able to have a doctor look at the site this week?
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Doctor didn't come on Tuesday, but they took cultures. Im not dure why they took cultures when i just got out of the hospital. I am on antibiotics.
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Good that they took cultures, that should be to look for new infection or different infection that the antibiotics might not be addressing. The good news there is if the results are bad your doctor should be alerted.
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Okay I see, before I left the infectious doctor told me that 3 more types of bacteria grew on the cultures they took from tuesday.