Guest guest Posted March 5, 2003 Report Share Posted March 5, 2003 hi i have a question about ports my daughter heather(17 yr old w/cf) is in the club once again for some reason in the past two years her ports keep messing up she had her first port put in when she was about 7 lasted great about 5 yrs it clotted during a sinus surgery some how came unclamped no one realized it until my husband and i saw blood all over her chest in recovey room anyway long story. she stayed out of the hospital for about 2 yrs age 12 and 13 since then she has had 7 ports all of the things they tell that can go wrong have the one that is in now was put in the week before christmas that was 3 ports between the beginning of november to the middle of december they accessed her on sunday had to reaccess on mondat then again on tuesday needless to say today it stopped working they tried tpn twice no luck tomorrow going for dye study she has had 3 regular ivs today she has no veins whatsoever she is on tobra timentin and doxycycline all iv my point HAS ANYBODT ELSE HAD THIS PROBLEM? i am starting to think her body is rejecting them because of being a foreign object which i hope not since she is on transplant list help lisa mom of heather 17 w/cf jeff 14 wo/cf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 6, 2003 Report Share Posted March 6, 2003 Firstly, what brand of port's are they putting in your daughter? Secondly, is the same doc doing each of these surgeries? Thirdly, who is doing the accessing of her port? My son has had his port going on 9 years, and only one problem when we used it the first time for iv's. Most of the cf iv's crystalize very much, this happened to Nick and his port clogged, after more than 16 hours of changing needles and flushing with urokinase (sp), it finally broke loose, thank goodness, as the docs were prepping him for surgery. After that one incidient, we have always flushed the port with 20cc's of saline instead of 10 cc's. We have never had a problem since, (knock on wood). Also, I am the only one who accesses his port. No doc's, no nurses, ever. This way I know he is being accessed properly in a very sterile environment. I hope this helps you and please look into my questions above, and go from there. Also, what CF Center do you go to? We live in California and are seen at CHOC, (children's hospital of ornage county). Amber, Nick's mom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 6, 2003 Report Share Posted March 6, 2003 My daughter has had 3 ports in about 10 years, she will not let any one else access her except me (her mom) and we never use it for drawing blood or checking levels of meds when she is in the hospital. Just our prefrences and it has worked out fine. Re: PORTS Firstly, what brand of port's are they putting in your daughter? Secondly, is the same doc doing each of these surgeries? Thirdly, who is doing the accessing of her port? My son has had his port going on 9 years, and only one problem when we used it the first time for iv's. Most of the cf iv's crystalize very much, this happened to Nick and his port clogged, after more than 16 hours of changing needles and flushing with urokinase (sp), it finally broke loose, thank goodness, as the docs were prepping him for surgery. After that one incidient, we have always flushed the port with 20cc's of saline instead of 10 cc's. We have never had a problem since, (knock on wood). Also, I am the only one who accesses his port. No doc's, no nurses, ever. This way I know he is being accessed properly in a very sterile environment. I hope this helps you and please look into my questions above, and go from there. Also, what CF Center do you go to? We live in California and are seen at CHOC, (children's hospital of ornage county). Amber, Nick's mom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 6, 2003 Report Share Posted March 6, 2003 i am not sure what brand she has but we always flush with hererin 100units in between stays or when it is flushed once a month we go to JOHNS HOPKINS in baltimore thanks lisa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 7, 2003 Report Share Posted March 7, 2003 The 20 cc's of saline I was referring to is pushed just before the heparin. The heparin keeps the blood thin, and the extra saline insures that all the iv meds are out of the reservoir in the port, that way you won't get crystalization in the port. Amber Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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