As Stage 111 is it too soon to remove port?

I had my port put in during my bi-lat surgery in June (09), finished chemo December and the port came out the day I started radiation.  I was initially told it would be in for a year, but then the onc and surgical onc decided to take it out.  So.........I'm going to bury my head in the sand and say this is it  - no more!  

I don't know what makes them change their minds or if they say what they're thinking at the moment without really thinking it all of the way through, but it can be confusing to us as patients. Back in June I was told as a TN that I needed to be deemed cancer free to have my port out and to have recon.  When talking to the surgeon (while he was taking the port out) he seemed to have forgotten he said that and said I could have recon whenever I was ready.  I asked what they meant by cancer free and he said having surgery and gone through treatment and no further signs of cancer. I was happy to get my port out don't regret it. 

Good luck with your decision.

I had my port taken out 4 mos after chemo. My oncologist wanted me to wait til I was through with radiation and I had a hysterectomy done. She said after that that it was time to have it out. I dont think they really worry about an occurrence until a couple of years. She says it is too early to be looking for mets so I quess there is no reason to leave one in with the thought of what if? I would have it taken out and there is a sense of closure with it, that you are actually done. If that stupid stuff does decide to come back in the future you can just have one put back in but hopefully that will never happen. Best wishes to you

So WTF???? what's with his comment "Your stage 3 after all, so I'm hesitant to remove it for a couple of years'???????  I bet you just wanted to kick his a$$.

I had not port and was so releived to find out my onc doesn't use them.

Barb

I was stage lll and had my port removed about 2 months after chemo. It was the most liberating thing I could do. It made me feel so good to have that alien lump off my chest. Stage 4 diagosis came one year later, this Christmas, and I had to have a new port put it, but I didn't mind. I really enjoyed the time without it. My opinion it Take It Out!

My onc made me wait a year from finishing chemo. I just had it out last September. I didn't mind having it in other than having it flushed every six weeks. Because their office doesn't open until after the last commuter bus leaves for the city, I would have to take a day off from work for a 10 miinute procedure.

If I ever need one again, I'll just have it put back in. No biggee.

I didn't even have a port. I would get it out.

As others said, worse case scenario you can get one put in again.

it is like a breath of fresh air getting that port out. they wanted to leave mine in too....i said NO.

those doctors are drama queens....  kidding....

 . 

I have a port and don't regret having it for a second.  I have veins that are hard to access sometimes even before chemo, and for sure that crap messes them up even more.  It is kind of ugly, but if it makes the treatments easier I was for it.  We've had no discussion of removal yet of course as I still have 2 more Taxols to look forward to.:)  It would be nice though to get it out before summer though so it's not glaring in a bathing suit, etc.  Although I'll still be bald then and I'm sure people will be staring at me wearing a bandanna. 

I'm with the others that think the doc was pretty insensitive to say what he did about stage III.  Sometimes I really don't think they hear themselves.  My general surgeon, right after he told me I had breast cancer, was discussing whether I had life insurance.......WTF??????

Take care,

Sharon

Get it out if it bothers you....

Echo - my onc said the same thing - keep it you might need it. I'm glad I had it for chemo but I got it out. I wasn't going to use if for itty bitty blood tests. Mine stuck up. I felt like a Borg. Now maybe if I had felt like the Borg Queen...

4 years later, I'm glad it's out.

It's funny how everyone's perception is so different.  For me, I am so mad at my stupid body that it betrayed me like this and just want every part that can cause cancer off (too bad I can't remove my skin, j/k - I read something about a dr. saying that in another thread), but I love my port and in a morbid kind of way look forward to chemo every time because I know it's doing something to get this s*** out of me.

I made the chemo nurses wait until you could see the last drops going down the IV line- then I let them switch me over to the saline solution ;-)