Yesterday, I went to my oncologist. My blood work was good. But it took four pokes to get a vein for the chemo. They can only use my right arm…my left arm is continually swollen. My veins are tough and rubbery. I’m starting to get needle tracks.
He’s taking me off Avastin…an anti tumor drug, prior to the port installation surgery. Because it will make me bleed more.
My doc told me Avastin has a half life and I will still continue to respond. I think this will be a good thing for me…it will certainly take time off my treatments.
Ports are good things. They make treatment so much more pleasant. My daughter had one for several weeks while on IV antibiotics every 8 hours around the clock at home.
My sister said her port was great. No more sticks for every little thing, no pain. A port is a good thing.
StG
I had a port when I got my weight loss surgery, and it was wonderful! There were no more continuous pokes to try to get an IV started, nothing they put in it burned or stung because the port went into the vena cava which is freakin’ huge, and they could draw blood from it, too.
You won’t regret it!
I regret your need, but am glad it’ll stop hurting so much with every treatment.
(I wish they would do something like that for regular apheresis donors. I’ve got permanent scars on both arms.)
As has been mentioned, if you need repeated treatment and blood-letting, then a port is so much nicer than the alternative. I’m glad to hear they are putting one in - sorry to hear of the need for one.
Sending healing thoughts your way.
I’ll second what everyone else has said. I’m a “hard stick” as they say, meaning they always have to try multiple times to find my veins. The port surgery is simple, not even requiring full anesthesia - they can do it as local anesthesia only, or “semi-conscious”, which is a weird experience. But it’s pure outpatient stuff, no real recovery time needed, and from then on there’s not even the pain of a needle when they access the port, since they give you lidocaine cream to put on before your appointment.
Chemo drugs are very toxic, and having a port makes things SO much easier. The chemo nurses spray me with a numbing spray before they stick me (it’s very cold and it stings) but I don’t even feel the stick. I know this because one time I was in the consulting room, not the chemo room, and the nurse was getting me started and she didn’t want to run get the numbing spray, so she said “Let’s do it without it.”
We will not be doing that again. :mad: