Dull red blotches at chemo infusion site

[HikerWife]

Hoping somebody has some experience with this and can help. Eric had his 3rd docetaxel chemo Friday, and for the first time ever, developed swelling above and below infusion site maybe an hour later, after we got home. He had started with a liter of saline to make sure he was fully hydrated (NP thought his tongue looked dry) (he hydrates like crazy!). We called the cancer center, our infusion nurse talked to the pharmacy, and we were told there had been some "infiltration" (leakage) into surrounding tissue, and for him to ice & elevate. Docetaxel is considered an irritant, but not a vesicant (which can cause blistering and more serious tissue damage). Swelling went down within hours, and we thought that was that. But late today (5 days post-infusion), Eric noticed his clothing was irritating his skin so took a look. He's developed dull red blotches at the site (one of which clearly follows the vein they used) (I attached a pic). No pain, no burning, no stinging, no fever. Just mild irritation. A friend who was an oncology nurse suggested drawing a line around the marks so we would know if it expands further (which I did), and contacting our doctor(s). Eric is feeling lousy - is in chemo crash - and I really don't think this seems dire enough to drag him out of bed to the ER. Has anyone here had an experience similar to this? I hate these gray area things - like, is it serious enough to need immediate attention, or not? Ugh. Thanks in advance!

[Peeffervescence]

I didn’t have the exact same thing but I had something similar. I had a vein that looked like it was bruised under the skin and was told it was from the docetaxel flowing too slowly into the vein. It cleared up eventually but it took months. Looked like a pink Y and it slowly turned brown and then faded away.

[HikerWife in reply to Peeffervescence]

Thanks so much. His seems slightly more brownish (faded) this morning. He seems really hard to get a good line in - we're going to ask for the most experienced person to stick him from now on. The nurse we've been getting just seems really nervous.

[Peeffervescence in reply to HikerWife]

I know what you mean. I got a traveling nurse once and she was great. The other nurses called her The Vein Whisperer. She said it was all about confidence.

Good luck!

[HikerWife in reply to Peeffervescence]

Thanks! Appreciate the help!