Port placement question please

Anonymous

Hello sweet ladies. I hope to get this answered tomorrow by my Onc but in the meantime I am making myself nuts over it! I am newly diagnosed and I will have my port placed on Wednesday December 16th. My question is... do I have a choice as to which side I want my port on? It would make my life so much easier if it was on my right side. I sleep on my left side, and when my 3 year old Princess (grand daughter) is here every weekend she sleeps, and snuggles, on my left. Do you know if I have a choice? My IDC is on my left with eventual surgery after chemo. Thank you for any info.

GG27

It may depend on your Dr's, but I was asked which side I wanted, however I couldn't specify where on the right side I wanted it. Because I no longer wear a bra, where the strap goes doesn't apply, but you may want to think about that. I find that any top that is a bit tight & the neckline is close to my port, gets really annoying & sometimes irritates the surface of my port as it's very prominent.

Spookiesmom

I wasn't asked. I think it depends if you will be doing rads. My port was placed on right side, rads on left.

GG27

Spookie, You could be right, I didn't think about that. I didn't have my port for chemo, it was put in 5 years after rads for my infusions. What if you have bi-lateral BC like I did? Port removal again before rads?

Anonymous

Thank you all. Looks like maybe I've worried in vain as it does make sense to have the port in the healthy side, especially with the risk of lymphadema from surgery later? I'll call tomorrow to be sure but I appreciate your replies very much!

GG27

Birdie, glad you got the info you needed. Sorry that I hijacked your post with my question. GG

Anonymous

Not a prob GG. I hope you get your answers as well.

Skittlegirl

Like others, my port is on my healthy side.

twiggyOR

I read on another thread to put on some of your favorite shirts and draw a line with a pen so you can ask the doc to place the port where it won't show. They might not do that but it's worth a try. My scar shows with a lot of my shirts.

Beatmon

My scar is so small I doubt it would hardly be noticed. I'm sorry that Twiggys is. Mine is on the right, cancer was on the left. I've been using it for 16 months. Last week had a minor infiltration which I notified the nurse immediately. I'm sure it was due to me excessively moving about visiting with my cousin. Good luck with your placement

Anonymous

Good idea Twiggy, and thank you BeatMom.

Skittlegirl

When the surgeon came in I was already in the hospital gown. He had me sit up, felt around, and marked his incision sites. So for me, it seemed to be driven more by my anatomy than anything else. I have a very thin scar for the main incision.

Anonymous

Thanks SkittleGirl. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I can still snuggle my sweet girl under my left arm.