Portacath

[MrsBL]

Does any body have a Portacath fitted to receive treatment and/or take blood due to poor venus access?

[kimmi9]

Hi MrsBL , i dont have one myself but my veins are really difficult to get to , can i ask if you dont mind what happened for the doc`s to make the decision to put a portacath in ??

[MrsBL]

Hi Kimmi

I was having chemo to try to re-set my immune system and the venus access was just too difficult. The only problem is that outside of oncology no other departments in the hospitals are trained to access it, therefore it would have been quite useless, especially when the chemo had to be stopped. I have managed to arrange for my GP's practice nurses and my Husband to be trained to access and flush it so that when I need bloods taken, treatment or I am admitted either the nurses or my Husband can access the port.

It is brilliant once it is in you do not know it is there apart from needing to be flushed regularly. I had previously had a picline fitted but unfortunately this clotted!!

A Portacath can be left in place for 2 - 3 years without issue but if you do get one make sure you get the new one that can be used during MRI and CT Scanning with dye as the older ones are not strong enough to take the dye because it is pumped through under pressure.

Hope that helps.

[kimmi9]

Yes thank you MrsBL , im sorry that you have been having to go through all of that , i hope that things are getting better for you , every time i have to have blood taken it`s a real problem , needle marks everywhere where they have tried to take blood i come out of my gp like a pin cusion.They say that my veins are too deep and when they do manage to get one up it just disapears , very frustrating.

[CanaryDiamond10]

I used to be a very difficult vein patient and then they told be to drink lots of water the night before and right up until I got there. Sure enough they have much less diffficulty. Sometimes my veins still give them a hard time, even with a butterfly needle to the hand. But usually I find it to be an inexperienced phlebotomist, not the vein. There is a rule here that a plobotomist can only try 3 times before they have to call a senior technician. (Cut down dramatically on patient complaints). A senior phlebotomist usually didn't have trouble. Water helps a whole lot. If it is a fasting test, be sure to ask if it is okay to continue with the water flushing and tell them why you do it. They may tell you not to do it for fasting tests. I don't know, they tell me to continue to do it, but to continue to ask so they can check the tests. They want that blood to flow more than you do!

Smiles,

Canary