Port

Today was "port surgery" day. The short version is that all went well.

Details below.

What is a port? The basic idea is that when a person undergoes chemo they get a lot of injections. The port is placed under the skin and connected by a little tube (also under the skin) to a major vein. The port itself is about the size of a bottle cap and has a plastic-like cover (all under the skin). It makes it easy for the nurses and the patient to do all the chemo injections. The whole thing can be removed later. DKO had one of these seven years ago last time and then had it removed when chemo was over.

Why do this? DKO has really difficult-to-find veins. Over the years, I've seen lots of hospital folks have a very hard time finding a workable vein for an injection or to draw blood. The usual procedure is to keep sticking her with a needle until they find a good vein or to place the needle in some incredibly awkward or painful place. The bottom line is this is necessary.

How did the day go? We were both pretty stressed in the morning. This is minor surgery that she's had before, but no matter how many surgeries she's had, it never gets routine. We arrived at the hospital around 10:30 for the procedure.

They very quickly took her back, gowned and IV-ed her. Putting the IV in was as difficult as always, all complicated by the fact that, since she's now had lymph nodes out on both sides, both arms are "compromised" and pose a lymphedema (swelling, potentially very large) risk. (She already has a little lymphedema in her right arm.)

We had to warn the various people who came in about her various allergies, the lymphedema, and about aspects of her experience last time she had the port surgery. Last time, they apparently left her prepped in a room for almost two hours taped to a table when the person who was going to do the surgery had some emergency elsewhere. We wanted to make sure this didn't happen again. Also, DKO reported to me that last time the doctors remarked on how "chatty" she was, asking lots of questions, and therefore needed extra anesthesia. I took some joy in alerting them to this risk.

Two and a half hours later, I collected her from the recovery room. The surgery went straightforwardly, but DKO is really sore. She's been chastising herself that she didn't ask them for more painkillers at the time.

The key fact is that she's home and doing o.k.