For those of you who have had a Central line

 Please tell me your experances. I have one in and my husband and I need to know what to expect from it. We have not read very good things about it, yet the DR and the nurses have all prased about it. 

I had a central line put in while in the hospital for dehydration a month out from surgery. They put it in because they could not find a vein for a picc line to be placed and they needed to get TPN in me quickly. It was only in a couple of days and they retried the picc and got it in and switched the TPN to that line. It was extremely uncomfortable for me. The Dr said I could not be sent home with a central line, only a picc, so they took it out.  Did your Dr send you home with one? If it is anything like the picc, I had a nurse come by once a week and change the dressing for me. I was responsible for flushing the line a few times a day, and changing my TPN bag myself. It took a few days of learning, but I eventually got the hang of it. I was on the TPN for a month at home.

I had one put into my neck after my gastric bypass (veins kept collapsing).  I was in the hosptial for ten days and they took it out before I came home.  Nurses didn't really do much except change the dressing. 

Like any IV line, I think it might need flushing to keep it open and blood from clotting at opening.  Sterile dressings.  But they should not let you go home with it, I don't think, if this was a temporary measure for a particular issue in the hospital.

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 Thank you for your replys. I work up with a central line after surgery. It was a scary thing, since no one said it could or would happen. I had never even heard of it. They took it out as soon as the Dr said I could go home. I was very thankful for that! 

Thanks again for the replys.