PORT NOT WORKING

hray1993

Okay so came for chemo today like normal and they couldn’t get my port to work for blood work. They put activase in it which should remove the blockage it probably has but it didn’t work. They just did another dose of the activase so I’m praying it works. I really don’t want to have to skip chemo today. Has anyone’s port not worked and they had to do activase TWICE? did it work after that? Prayers please and any experiences with this would be greatly appreciated to ease my mind. I’m already a week behind because of being tested for covid so I really don’t want to have to miss today too

MinusTwo

hray - I had my port for several years. It was a "power port" and worked like a champ. I did have to go in and have it flushed every 3 months once my infusions were done.

In the end, they couldn't draw anything out. They could still put saline in, but not get blood out. I had scans and it turns out there's a little flap at a junction inside your body. On a power port, that flap is supposed to move either way - to let saline or drugs in and allow blood out. Somehow that flap got confused & blocked the tube when they were trying to extract anything, so they couldn't draw blood.

If you have a power port, tell them to try running just some plain saline. If that works, your situation may be the same. If so, they could get blood from your arm but still use the port for chemo. Good luck