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Tips for central line / central venous catheter care?

by dogmom on Mon May 02, 2016 7:35 pm

I would be interested in anyone's tips and experiences with central line / central venous catheter (CVC) care. I am a little worried about this.

Thanks

dogmom
Who do you know with myeloma?: husband
When were you/they diagnosed?: December 2015
Age at diagnosis: 58

Re: Tips for central line / central venous catheter care?

by reece93 on Tue May 03, 2016 9:25 am

Good morning,

Has your husband's line been placed yet? Before my husband's was placed, M.D. Anderson had me, as his caregiver, go through 3 classes on caring for the CVC. I expect you'll have to go through the same classes, and they cover everything from flushing the line with heparin to keeping the insertion site dry during showering. It seemed really overwhelming while going through the classes, but after going through the cleaning/flushing steps a couple of times it got to be just a routine part of our day.

I promise you'll do fine.

Debra

reece93
Name: reece93
Who do you know with myeloma?: Husband
When were you/they diagnosed?: October 2014
Age at diagnosis: 57

Re: Tips for central line / central venous catheter care?

by blueblood on Tue May 03, 2016 9:51 am

Good morning,

I would recommend enjoying a long hot shower while you can. Once a central line is installed, showers aren't the same.

If he is going to be carrying an infusion pump, always, always pin the IV tubing to his clothing.
I needed the strain relief the pin provided several times.

blueblood
Name: Craig
Who do you know with myeloma?: Myself
When were you/they diagnosed?: March 2014
Age at diagnosis: 54

Re: Tips for central line / central venous catheter care?

by NStewart on Tue May 03, 2016 12:13 pm

Once my central line was placed a visiting nurse came to my home to teach me how to care for it. Fortunately, I only had to do the care for a week before I was admitted for the autologous stem cell transplant. I asked for it to be removed on my day of discharge from the hospital. I had no problems flushing the catheters myself.

Nancy in Phila

NStewart
Name: Nancy Stewart
Who do you know with myeloma?: self
When were you/they diagnosed?: 3/08
Age at diagnosis: 60

Re: Tips for central line / central venous catheter care?

by Aclinkboca on Wed May 04, 2016 12:28 am

I had my catheter placed last Tuesday. The process itself wasn't as bad as I thought. A little Novocaine (procaine) and a tug for the surgeon and it was all set. It took a couple of days to get used to, but now it's not a problem. The key is making sure it's kept clean and water out. Sylvester Cancer provided me some AquaGuard, but those patches really didn't work. I took wrap and then went around my chest criss cross to protect the dressing and used a sponge to make sure water wasn't getting around the dressing. It's fairly easy to make sure it doesn't get wet.

I had to go in to Sylvester three times a week for flush and dressing change because they would not let me do those myself.

AC.

Aclinkboca
Name: AC
Who do you know with myeloma?: Myself
When were you/they diagnosed?: Dec 2015
Age at diagnosis: 46

Re: Tips for central line / central venous catheter care?

by dogmom on Wed May 04, 2016 9:36 pm

Yes, I do have a class and I am a med tech, so I am used to standard cleaning, also they said there would be a lot days where he would be back to the clinic and on those days they would clean and change the dressing if needed and flush on those days, so there would not be too many I would have to do. I also got a tip here on the Beacon on another post to order Liqua Shield to cover for showering so I got some of those. Wish me luck!

dogmom
Who do you know with myeloma?: husband
When were you/they diagnosed?: December 2015
Age at diagnosis: 58

Re: Tips for central line / central venous catheter care?

by reece93 on Thu May 05, 2016 8:48 am

Cathy,

I wish we had known about those shields! We used Saran Wrap - the sealing kind - and just draped it over his shoulder and over the insertion site, then taped it down. It didn't always keep the water out and we'd have to do a cleaning session just due to that. The shields would have been so much easier!

Take care, Debra

reece93
Name: reece93
Who do you know with myeloma?: Husband
When were you/they diagnosed?: October 2014
Age at diagnosis: 57

Re: Tips for central line / central venous catheter care?

by dogmom on Thu May 05, 2016 8:59 am

Debra, Yes, I was so thankful for the tip I got here. They said they would give us something at the clinic for this, but the one who gave me the tip said it was not near as good as Liqua Shield. The website said they are specially made for this purpose. I got a month's supply for around 60 dollars and shipping is free.

dogmom
Who do you know with myeloma?: husband
When were you/they diagnosed?: December 2015
Age at diagnosis: 58

Re: Tips for central line / central venous catheter care?

by dogmom on Fri May 13, 2016 10:55 am

Ok, guys. Unfortunately, our class instructor was new and just flat said he was not good with ports and to ask the nurses for help when we were in the hospital. So I've read and studied our book instructions and watched videos. :shock:

dogmom
Who do you know with myeloma?: husband
When were you/they diagnosed?: December 2015
Age at diagnosis: 58

Re: Tips for central line / central venous catheter care?

by reece93 on Fri May 13, 2016 12:43 pm

Oh my, that's really unfortunate. It seems they could have found someone else to teach the class if the nurse was that unfamiliar with ports. That being said though, even after 3 classes, I still went back and watched the videos several times and got just as much - or more - information there than I did from the classes.

Catheter care is tedious, but not really hard. I know you'll zip right through it after the first couple of times.

Take care and keep us posted. :)

Debra

reece93
Name: reece93
Who do you know with myeloma?: Husband
When were you/they diagnosed?: October 2014
Age at diagnosis: 57

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