No blood from the port today…
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Tiffany,
Lauren had this happen once before her chemo. They just used like 3 salines and 3 heparins and finally got blood return. I was worried I did something wrong when I did her pump disconnect at home to make it close up, but the nurse assured me, just like Marion said, that a covering built up on Lauren’s port. She has not had that problem since.
-Pam
And this is why I’m very glad that I’m going with IV throughout chemo so far… I can deal with the needle stick every week for sure!
Wow…guess i need to call my doctor. They did do the chemo via my port, I was just surprised when no blood came out.
Tiffany….I spoke with an oncology nurse. This is her response to your question:
“No blood return from a port a cath is definitely an issue. There are
many reasons that the flow of blood can stop. Most likely there is a
fibrin sheath that has built up on the tip of the catheter. (inside
the body) This sheath, or flap of fibrin will open up like a trap door
when flushing the catheter, then close up when there is suction
against it. ( As with drawing blood from the catheter). There are
other reasons too, such as pinch of syndrome where the catheter could
be getting pinched within the body, by the clavicle.
http://pen.sagepub.com/content/18/6/531.abstract.No blood from the port a cath should always be addressed. Chemo
should never be given through a central line or peripheral i.v. that
does not have a blood return. This is a standard of care. If there
is no blood return, how would the nurse know that the chemo or other
medication is being delivered properly?Tthe person who posted this should to alert their Oncologist.
Proper assessment of the catheter issues would then occur. It could
be as easy as pushing a medicine through the catheter to dissolve the
fibrin, or a dye study to further evaluate the line.”They always have trouble getting a blood return with my port. But they keep working with it until they get one. I really don’t know if you should be worried or not?? I will have to ask Friday when I go for chemo.
Cindy
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