Chemo and ports

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Trinity789
Trinity789 Member Posts: 55
edited June 2014 in HER2+ (Positive) Breast Cancer

Hello,

 Just met with the oncologist today. I am curious if anyone is on this regime. He wants to do 6 sessions every three weeks of Taxotere(Docetaxel), Carboplatin(Paraplatin) and Herceptin. All at once..... Once thats over I keep up the Herceptin until its been a year.

Are ports popular? Do they make the process easier if your veins are small? Not sure what to do.

I am glad that my nodes were negative but didn't truly realize the chance that the micro cancer cells could come back. If they do he said that they would be immune to treatment. Little discouraged but at the same time happy for the other results.

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  • mtndawn
    mtndawn Member Posts: 115
    edited January 2011

    Hi and welcome.  Sorry you have to be here, though.  TCH is a popular protocol for her2+ bc.  There is a thread for TCH over in the chemotherapy forum.  It has been active for almost 4 years, I think, so there is a lot of info there.  Herceptin is quite the breakthrough for us.  Many of us with large tumors who did chemo before surgery had a complete response to chemo.  

    It seems most of us get ports.  I have one, and I am happy not to have them try to find a vein every time, especially since they are only supposed to use my left arm since surgery.  I watch some patients get sticked for chemo, and it seems a horrible process, especially as treatment goes on and veins can be harder to find.  I did get a clot next to my port, so I am on blood thinners.  They have never been able to get blood out of my port, so I can't use it for bloodwork.  Even so, I am glad I have it.  

    Cancer sucks, and it is one scary b!+(#, but we are so fortunate to have herceptin.  You are ahead of many of us, being stage I, so you are in a relatively better place, as far as this thing goes.  I wish you didn't have it at all, though, but unfortunately we don't get to pick those options.  You will find tons of support and information here, and we will all get through it together.  Check out the TCH thread when you get a chance.

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  • Jenna1961
    Jenna1961 Member Posts: 71
    edited January 2011

    Hi Trinity789,

    there is a very good thread for your type of chemo:
    http://community.breastcancer.org/forum/69/topic/578284?page=288#idx_8611
    It covers the port issue as well.
    I had 8 infusions of chemo + a year of H and loved my port. It is a surgery though and there is a small risk of complications. I was vey nervous on the day of port insertion. You have to be sedated a little; port is inserted under the skin and a tube into your vein in the neck (to put it simply).
    Good luck with side effects of chemo,
    Jenna

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  • Trinity789
    Trinity789 Member Posts: 55
    edited January 2011

    Thanks for the info :)

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  • Trinity789
    Trinity789 Member Posts: 55
    edited January 2011

    I will check out the thread and appreicate the kind words.

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  • lovetosail
    lovetosail Member Posts: 544
    edited January 2011

    Hi Trinity,

    I had your same treatment (TCH x6 and then Herceptin to finish a year) and yes, I had a port.  It sucks, but it's totally doable.  I had my port out on Dec 10 and I kept it and had a necklace made out of it ;)

     Good luck with your treatments!!!

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  • suzieq60
    suzieq60 Member Posts: 6,059
    edited January 2011

    A port is a must if you are doing a year of herceptin - you won't regret it.

    Lovestosail -  I had my port out on Dec 14th - yaay we're finished H!!! We went out in a big cat on Moreton Bay today - a 35 footer - rather a nice day after all the rain we've had.

    Sue

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  • Marl5900
    Marl5900 Member Posts: 32
    edited January 2011

    I got TCH and I am now on Herceptin only (and rads).  It has worked well for me. You will learn (mostly from the nurses and the other patients) how to manage side effects. My  port has been a pain as my skin is thin & dry and I have rashes after rashes.  It looks as if it wants to jump out of my skin and makes choice of tshirts dificult sometimes.  However, I would not like to be without it.  The only thing worst than a port is to have no port?  I have seen patients without in the chemo room and I felt lucky, very lucky!  Best wishes for a good TCH!

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  • lago
    lago Member Posts: 17,186
    edited January 2011

    Yes I'm doing the same thing with a port. I have my final 6th chemo this Tuesday! I have good veins but had nodes taken from both sides so I wouldn't want sticks in my arms. Granted they can do it in my foot but with a year of Herceptin you are much better off with a port.

    This protocol is typical for HER2+ gals because not only has it been researched but it's less toxic to the heart than getting Adriamycin (usually followed by a taxane) although I do see that cocktail used too.

    and the thread that Jenna is trying to send you to is:

    taxotere,carboplatin and herceptin
    http://community.breastcancer.org/forum/69/topic/578284 

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  • negirly
    negirly Member Posts: 318
    edited January 2011

    Didn't have that chemo regimine but did have a port and LOVED it.  My neck was sore for a few days after it was placed but after that I could sleep on my side and forgot it was there.  I recommend some lidocaine/prilocaine? cream (EMLA is the brand name - you need a RX) that you put on 1 hour before.  It numbs the area so you don't feel the needle go in.  The other thing about having a port is that your arms are free to read, eat play on the computer during your infusion.  Best of Luck.

    Karyn

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  • PoliceWife84
    PoliceWife84 Member Posts: 136
    edited January 2011
    Hi! I finished 6 rounds of TCH in May, and I will have my last Herceptin infusion tomorrow. I have a port and would highly recommend it. I am very fair, bruise really easily,have uncooperative veins, and my port has been wonderful! I have not had one bit of trouble out of it. It was installed in an outpatient procedure, and I was a little sore around the incision area, but nothing major. You will do great- the TCH is a very doable protical. Smile
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  • Trinity789
    Trinity789 Member Posts: 55
    edited January 2011

    Glad to hear your treatment is over and that you had fun on the boat :)

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  • Trinity789
    Trinity789 Member Posts: 55
    edited January 2011

    tHANK lAGO!

    Thanks Lago!

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  • Trinity789
    Trinity789 Member Posts: 55
    edited January 2011

    Thanks everyone. You are all so encouraging!

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  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Member Posts: 1,376
    edited January 2011

    (((Trinity)))) Glad you are here but so sorry for the reasons-this is the club noone wants to be in. I am older (well in my 50's) and my doc did not want to do a port for fear of blood clots in my case. But many women I know have them a swear by them. I honestly have no veins left and I am SO tired of being poked with needles and SO tired of people trying to find a vein on me!! The chemo destroyed my veins and my good arm is my BC arm so doc won't allow that arm to be banded or used-fear of lymphodemia (spell?). So there are many advantages from when I here from the women who have them and the friends that i know who have them. Just don't know if I could stand to have a foreign thing in my chest but everyone seems toget used to it! Keep researching and asking questions-blessings, SV

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  • Trinity789
    Trinity789 Member Posts: 55
    edited January 2011

    Thank you. Take care

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  • shadow2356
    shadow2356 Member Posts: 393
    edited January 2011

    Good luck Trinity. I had the same regimin. TCH with a year of herceptin. I am all finished now. It goes faster than you ever think it will. I had the port. I am glad because the veins get weak after awhile.

    I wish you strength in your fight!

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  • marjie
    marjie Member Posts: 1,134
    edited January 2011

    Love my port!!  I remember the day I was getting it in - many many painful attempts to find a vein for my IV sedation.  Now it's all easy access for bloodwork, transfusions, antibiotics and chemo. I have seen people in the chemo suite and their arms are sooo bruised up - glad it's not me.

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  • Leslie1962
    Leslie1962 Member Posts: 233
    edited January 2011

    Don't know what I would have done without my port. It has been a lifesaver!

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  • carcharm
    carcharm Member Posts: 486
    edited January 2011

    Ports are use widely with long term therapy. What surprised me is that I went in for an echo-3months post port removal.-only to find the wires are still hanging in my heart. They remove the device but leave the wires... noone told me till i saw the echo... not sue if this is standard or not.

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  • lisag32803
    lisag32803 Member Posts: 5
    edited January 2011

    I am also a TCH gal.  I agree, so glad for my port!  Going through this, I am greatful for anything that makes it easier!

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  • sheuber
    sheuber Member Posts: 36
    edited February 2011

    I love my port! After my first treatment the veins in my arm collapsed so I didn't have too much of a choice. I'm not sure which chemo drugs you're getting but some are harder on your veins than others (usually the ones they put in with a syringe). Because I'm a smaller person (with small veins) the chemo drugs (FEC) burnt going in. They tried opening the veins by putting a heating pad over my arm but it didn't work. The port surgery was no big deal. I don't love the way it looks in my chest and the scar is bigger than I was expecting but I don't regret getting it one bit. I have 11 months to go of herceptin and there's no way my veins would have made it through.

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  • sheuber
    sheuber Member Posts: 36
    edited February 2011

    For you ladies that have had your ports removed, did it leave another scar (or did they cut you in the same place)? 

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  • lovetosail
    lovetosail Member Posts: 544
    edited February 2011

    Hi - my port was removed via the same incision used to put it in, so no new scar.

     I had them give me the port, cleaned it up, and had a necklace made out of it, it looks pretty cool ;)

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  • o2bhealthy
    o2bhealthy Member Posts: 2,101
    edited February 2011
    I am so jealous!!! I asked three times for my port but the hospital said "NO! It's a bio hazard" my response "It's MY bio hazard!!!" I really wanted to keep my port and show the kids Frown
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  • Letlet
    Letlet Member Posts: 1,053
    edited February 2011

    hmm planning to ask for my port too...kinda like dog tags of the war we went thru...would making it a key chain be sick?

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  • lovetosail
    lovetosail Member Posts: 544
    edited February 2011
    o2bhealthy - yeah the nurse didn't want to give it back to me, but the surgeon said that I'd "earned it" - yeah I would have to agree!  Letlet - I think a keychain would be a good idea!  probably less sick than my necklace ;)
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  • thegood5
    thegood5 Member Posts: 478
    edited February 2011

    I was on the same cocktail...finished with TC 3 weeks ago and will be on Herceptin forever thanks to liver mets.  I love my port....guess I sort of have to with having it as a permanent body fixture the rest of my life!  Good luck with your chemo!

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  • InTwoPlaces
    InTwoPlaces Member Posts: 354
    edited February 2011

    I have a hate/love relationship with my port Undecided

    It's great to have during infusion and blood work, but it's very difficult to find tops which looks good and in the same time hide the port.

    I live in California and for the last month it has been warm and nice almost every day so summer clothes there is....

    Some days I don't care if everyone see the port, but other days I do. It's difficult to feel good and   look nice with a port, hardly no eyebrows and eyelashes and a wig. Smile

    I wonder where the old me is hiding....

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  • starling
    starling Member Posts: 76
    edited February 2011

    InTwoPlaces - I had the same relationship with my port. It was always uncomfortable. I was thrilled when it was removed, 3 months ago. But now, the scar hurts and the area is red and so senstive. Its not infected, just feels sensitive. Its an ugly scar, my lumpectomy scar is almost invisble, but this is awful. Has anyone had issues like this? Any suggestions? All the doctors point the finger to eachother.

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