Chest hair and Ceftriaxone IV

[halfin]

I am going to start the ceftriaxone trial next week. The drug has to be administered intravenously, so they will put a central line coming out of my chest. To keep it clean, the exit site is covered by a stick-on dressing that must be changed once a week.

They had Fran practice the procedures on "Chester", the artificial chest. But I noticed that Chester doesn't have any chest hair. And that dressing was really stuck on there, Fran had to work to pull it off. I could just imagine how that would feel on my hairy chest.

I wonder if this has been an issue for other people in the trial? I guess shaving my chest first is the obvious answer, but the trial goes for at least a year so it would grow back. And they were so paranoid about maintaining sterility during dressing changes, it's hard to imagine how bringing in a razor would be consistent with that.

Fran has even suggested I could get laser hair removal before the surgery(!). I'm not sure I'm up for that.

Has anyone else here had a problem with this? Thanks!

 

[hopingforcure]

Kelly Clarkson comment comes to mind Hal.. Trying not to laugh. But it is funny, but painful. Keep us up to date on how things go, glad you are on the trial, will you get the real thing or is it placebo? sure hope it is the real thing.

 

[laurel]

Hal, Busse Inc. makes dressing kits for central venous catheters that don't stick to hair. Might be a bit pricey though.
Laurel

 

[Tankertoad]

been on cef for 17 days,lots of chest hairs that are growing back,but no problems yet with hair.i would take a wait and see.

 

[halfin]

Thanks for the advice! Sounds like my best bet is to just let them trim it when they put the line in. I'm sure they're used to dealing with hair.

 

[tomby]

hey hal - they do shave it all off when they put the catheter in. It does get kind of itchy when things start to grow back

 

[serenade]

Hal,
Been in the trial almost a year! The patch comes off every week it is not as stickey as you would think. Hair grows so grit your teeth and pull. The trial is worth it. =)
Judy

 

[tomby]

Also - the port is much higher on your chest then on the 'chester' we had - which was a pleasant surprise for me, anyway.