PICC line or Port access for antibiotic after hospital stay

fac03

Hi Ladies,

Have you ever used port to receive antibiotic due to infection? Would you do differently?

I finished my AC but before I began taxol, I was admitted into the hospital because they found out bacteria in my blood stream. I am about to be discharged and they wanted me to continue antibiotic for another 2 weeks. My infectious disease doctor gave me two choices, (a) once daily port access in the infusion center (b) every 6 hours antibiotic through PICC line at a rehab center (insurance not covers inhome service).

I asked her the pros and cons, but she was just upset and told me there are no difference clinically/medically. I am concerned because throughout my stay in the hospital, I was given on the fly answers by different doctors, say "your port was infected because metal is the first foreign objected get infected, your port needed to be removed". "No, they have to draw blood from the port and to show that the culture is positive before they can remove the port". The infectious disease doctor also has the assumption that infusion center nurses knew what they are doing (no I don't because I was in pain during AC#2 for 3 hours and was told that I have too much tissue in the area)

My concern is that if they access the port for 14 days, and given "port can only be infected if they are accessed" (the doctor told me. Am I opening up myself for more chances of infection? I can't imagine having a needle on my chest for 2 weeks.

TIA

Cowgirl13

Hi fac03, I'm so sorry you are going through this. I would immediately contact the physician/and or radiologist who installed your port in order to tell him what is going on, what the infectious disease specialist has suggested and have all your questions answered about the picc/or port. Keep us posted.

ruthbru

I had a port for chemo. My husband had a PICC line for a staph infection. If I had to chose between the two, I'd do the port in a heartbeat. Definitely follow Cowgirl's suggestion to check with the doctor who installed it first and make sure it's okay to do it that way.

BellasMomToo

I have had both -- a port for chemo and a PICC line for an infection. After chemo, I developed an abdominal abscess (due to diverticulitis aggravated by chemo) and another abdominal abscess 10 months later. Because of infection 'recurrence', the infectious disease dr. put me on heavy duty IV antibiotics for 2 weeks (followed by oral antibiotics for 2 weeks). Fortunately my insurance approved in home care so I got a PICC line and was able to do my IV antibiotics (2x a day) by myself. The in home care nurse came by every few days.

I agree with what the PPs said. Keep in mind that a PICC line can more easily get infected than a port. And you cannot get a PICC line wet! That made showering very challenging.

fac03

I tried to contact my oncologist, she directed me to the infection disease doctor. If I were to detail the conflicting information that were given to me, it will be very long. Anyway, I decided to get a midline and checked into rehab as I did not get specific answers on how to do daily outpatient using the port for antibiotic once a day.

My concern is the delay to my Taxol. I was supposed to begin taxol on 06/25 and now it is being delayed for 5 to 6 weeks. If I were to go to the daily outpatient route, my oncologist would start me on Taxol next week.