Vein light
Hi all,

I'm not a nurse, but need help with a problem I have.

I am a Crohns patient who gets Remicade every 6 weeks. My problem is that I have horrible veins and always have. Usually this means that whenever an IV needs to get started, I have to get stuck 4+ times (so far the record was 7 times). Every time I get stuck, they usually have to dig around a bit trying to get the needle to "thread" (if that's the right word).

Often times they'll eventually give up an call somebody from anesthesia to get an IV started. Coincidentally, my uncle is the head of anesthesia, but that doesn't seem to help much. Usually anesthesia is swamped and can't send anybody so they tell the nurses to just keep trying.

I am willing at this point to invest in some type of portable device that would help the nurses find a suitable vein. I hear they're called "vein lights". The nurses in outpatient where I go tell me they have them in the pre-op area, but that outpatient doesn't have any.

So I'm just willing to buy one and bring it in every time I go to get Remicade, or when I am hospitalized with Crohns related problems (absess, partial obstruction, etc.) and know that they'll need to start an IV on me for fluids and medications.

What is the best device for this, and where do I buy one? I realize I may not be able to personally buy one probably for legal reasons, but my father is a doctor and he told me just to find out what to buy, and he'd get it through his office.

Any help you can offer in this is appreciated. Thanks.

Edited to add - this just needs to be able to find a vein good enough for a 24 gauge needle as that's what they always use with me.