Please don't practice on me - the concequences of a leaky IV.

Dr. Oncologist mused as he examined the back of my red and swollen left hand; "Well, it's apparent that the I-V leaked during the chemo infusion." He looked up at me and smiled; "But, this doesn't look that serious." He added; "We see this occasionally but it rarely causes serious problems any more." He felt my hand and arm and said; "This used to be quite common and it wasn't unusual to have it cause open lesions that required skin grafts in order to heal - but I haven't seen that in at least a decade (or two)."

Remember my last full infusion (Sept 7) I had the young chemo nurse who had so much trouble inserting my IV. A week and a half had passed and while watching my team bowl ( I asked my son to bowl for me since I wasn't feeling that strong) , and as I applauded, I noticed my left hand begin to hurt. As the night progressed, the swelling became more pronounced and it began to get warm to the touch. I stopped clapping and when I got home I sent a message (via MyChart web software) to Dr. Oncologist.  The next morning I got a call from Chemo Nurse and we scheduled an appointment that afternoon to have a look.

Dr. Oncologist said I was lucky I didn't have a hole in my hand. He surmised that the IV had leaked and some of the chemo had gotten into the tissue of my hand (or into the walls of the vein). He reminded me that these chemicals are 'nasty things' and when they 'get out' of where they should be they can cause trouble. By then my hand was no longer hot and the swelling had gone down. He checked me for soreness and decided I was out of danger for ulcers or other permanent damage. They wouldn't be able to use that hand again for infusions (or any IV probably). The subject of a 'port' came up again - or at least a mini-port in my upper arm just to get through the remaining infusions.

I am soaking this hand in hot water at least twice a day and after a month I still have a small lump on the back of my hand. Dr. Oncologist recommended I flex the hand and stretch the wrist to work out any scar tissue from the damaged tissue. When I work the hand (and my ring finger) still get 'angry'. A soaking makes it better and I do think it's finally healing.

I guess the take home message from this is that when the nurse asks me if I'd like someone else to try inserting the I-V, I should say "YES".