A few days ago I had my Hickman line insertion op, it is still painful but all went well.
A Hickman line or central line is a long thin tube which is tunnelled under the skin into a vein next to your heart the end which comes out of the skin has bungs on the end which are used to put in chemotherapy drugs, IV antibiotics and to give and take blood.
The procedure itself was a bit of a strange experience, first of all you do the usual of putting on the lovely gown which never stays closed! and signing of consent forms. You then go into the operating room which is different to ones I have been in before as it had xray and ultrasound equipment in too. They use these to see where your veins are and to check that the tube is in the right position in your vein.
Once on the table a cushion is put under your neck to elongate it so it feels a bit like all the bloods rushing to your head, next you are covered in what seems like a tent with gaffa tape to secure it to your face, this covers half your face so you cant see what they are doing and the hat you have to wear also fell into my eyes so I couldn't see at all.
Then you are injected in the neck and chest with local anaesthetic I thought it was going to be really painful as they said it would sting alot but it wasn't so bad although I wasnt feeling very relaxed they did have some music on which then suddenly changed to " ITS TRAVELODGICAL" the advert for travel lodge I did my best not to laugh as that may hurt if i moved too much haha It was stuck in my head for the rest of the day.
Once you are numb a small incision is made near your neck and the tube fed into your vein and back out further down this bit did not hurt it just felt strange. The actual op only took about 30 minutes its the getting ready and pre op bits that take the longest, also afterwards the wound didnt want to stop bleeding so I did have to stay a while and have the dressing changed.
All in all the actually op is not as bad as I was expecting it is more the aches and pains afterwards I have found I cant sleep lying down so lots of pillows and some pain relief before bed does help a bit. The tube is held in place by a few stitches which I think get taken out in a few weeks, the lines have to be flushed weekly sometimes more depending what your having done and you cant have baths, oh how I will miss having a nice hot bath.