Pain management ideas for cannula and IV antibiotics pain

[Booboostwo]

DD7 has an external fixator to lengthen her fibula. Her pain was managed really well after the operation, the hospital’s pain team were involved, they really listened and kept on top of the pain.

However she was then readmitted for a pin site infection that was not responding to oral antibiotics and things went downhill with the IV antibiotics. She needed 4 infusions a day of flucloxacillin, each lasting 40 minutes. The first two were painful but manageable, the third really bad and the fourth unbearable. They then changed the cannula but only got 4 infusions before she couldn’t take it anymore.

She seems to have a high pain tolerance, after the operation she only used her morphine pump once and we were discharged after two days rather than the expected 7 day stay so I believe her when she said that the infusion pain was a 10/10.

However, we could not get anyone to take her seriously. She was an paracetamol, ibuprofen and oramorph before the infusions but it didn’t help much. One nurse was lovely and stayed with DD, distracting her and helping her but the other nurses would just hook her up and walk away. I asked them to bleep the pain management team but apparently they don’t deal with cannula pain.

The whole experience was awful. Does anyone have any ideas how to make this easier if there is a next me? Pin site infections are frequent and she’ll have this thing on for a few months.

Fluclox does sting when it goes in though it’s unusual for it to be intolerable. How many days does she have left? Sometimes putting a bigger cannula into a bigger vein can help (ie not in the back of her hand, the elbow veins are best). Otherwise it’s just about distraction. Sometimes it may be possible to use another antibiotic. Hopefully she won’t have many more infections at the pin sites.

Do they have play specialists on the ward? They would be a great resource.

The first infusion is painless, the second two are painful but we can distract her but the fourth one was a nightmare each time. She cried through the whole 40 minutes and begged me to take it out -it was very difficult for both of us. The play specialist tried but it was impossible to help with the fourth one each time.

They couldn’t change to another antibiotic as the culture showed this one was the best for this infection.

She’s back to oral antibiotics now but I am dreading the next infection. I will ask about the elbows if we end up in hospital again.