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PICC lines for chemotherapy


WendyG
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I have a PICC line inserted which has to have a saline flush every week and I want to come over to my house in France for firstly 2 weeks and then maybe 3/4 weeks in September. The D/Ns here are willing to give me all the relevant kit but I am not sure whether this can be done in France by one of the visiting nurses. Has anyone experience of this? I did think of perhaps going to the hospital in Tours. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
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My Chemo was via a PAC and was always done at the Hospital, though closing off the tube was done back home a couple of times by the Nurse.

I had the impression that it was quite specialised and not something most visiting nurses do very often but that might just be my particular group.

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"We" did mine all of the times, O/H was shown how at the hospital and then after district nurses were not required as to be honest they had about 5 mins to visit bless them and I didn't like the "rushed" approach.  I did it once myself but the tricky bit was closing off the little plastic valve (threaded) one handed.

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My wife died over ten years ago. She had been diagnosed with cancer over seven years before she eventually succumbed to it. She received chemotherapy intermittently over that time and was eventually fitted with a continuous delivery pump carried on a belt. For this she had a permanently inserted PICC line.

We came to France for four or five weeks each summer. Her oncology department (Cheltenham) provided us with sufficient saline packs for me to be able to flush her line every week. The nurse specialist at Cheltenham ensured that I was competent and gave me appropriate advice (part of which was don't let any GP get anywhere near it).

Everything went well and we did not need any local help.

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