Port Surgery

Hey everybody!

Hope you're having a good Monday so far.

I had my port surgery last Friday. I posted a picture above of what the port actually looks like. It was placed under the skin and attached to the chest wall, right at the area of my bra strap. Dr. Cooper told me once that when he performs surgery, he likes to make the cuts so that when you have on a bathing suit or tank top, no one can see the scars. I think it's compassionate on his part. But right now, it's sore.

The little circle in the middle of the port is where the needle will go. I can also have blood drawn from that spot, so no more needles in my arms. Thank goodness for that.

I have an appointment tomorrow to get more lab work done, then I can start chemo, probably next Tuesday the 24th.

I had a long talk with Dr. Yardley last Wednesday. She explained the chemo in more detail, along with what would happen around chemo days.

1. As long as I have someone driving me to and from chemo, they will give me something to help me relax. She called it anti-anxiety medication and I'm guessing it's probably Valium or something similar. She said I COULD drive myself, but why do that if I have someone to drive me. She also said if, for some reason, I do drive myself, they won't give me the relaxing drug.

2. She said I will be given several different medications to fight off nausea and that I will need to take them for 48 hours after chemo to prevent nausea. She said it's easier to prevent than go in and rescue once you get sick.

3. She said between day 10 and 14 after the first treatment I will begin to lose my hair. It will start growing back after the last treatment.

4. I can have 1 person in the treatment room with me. Each appointment will last around 3-4 hours because I will have lab work done, as well as see Dr. Yardley before each treatment.

5. My treatments will be 21 days apart (or once every 3 weeks). Dr. Yardley said the middle week will be the hardest. That is when the immune system gets hit hard and they would like for me to not schedule any other treatments (dental cleanings, other physical exams, etc) during that time. She said week 3 will be the best weeks.

6. I will have an appointment the day after every treatment for them to give me an injection that will help boost my immune system. It's given under the skin and is supposed to shorten the time that my immune system will be lowered. It won't prevent it. However, if my immune system is normally lowered for 5 days, this could shorten it to 2 1/2 days.

I was given 2 bracelets in the hospital on Friday. They are those rubber 'awareness' bracelets. One states that I am to have no needles, BPs or IVs in my right arm. The other tells people that I have a power port. The bracelets are on my right arm because that's where I had my lymph nodes removed to test for cancer. Evidently, any IVs, blood pressure cuffs or needles on and in that arm, can cause lymphedema. So they want everything to go in the left arm.

I am ready to get this started and over with. I think the 1st treatment will be the most nerve-wracking since I don't really know how my body will react. I am probably going to take treatment days off. My boss has been really great about everything. Unfortunately, his wife has had to go through this too. Because of that, he knows how hard it might be and has been really good to me through it all.

I will schedule my first treatment tomorrow and will post again once I go through the 1st treatment.

Hope everyone has a great week. -