MIDDLE-AGED WOMEN 40-60ish

I hope your day goes well lynniea!

mumayan - I won't be on here on Monday and hope you get the all clear.  Keeping fingers crossed.

ok, friends, i have yet another question.  when did your port stop bothering you?  i've had mine for 3 weeks now and it still pulls and hurts if i reach up or if i don't sleep in exactly the right position.  the nurse wasn't able to draw blood from it this week either.  i'm get a little disgruntled with it, but i'm hoping i'm just expecting too much at three weeks.  anyone have any experience you can share? as usual, thank you!

YaYa, I found my port to be a nuisance for the most part, but occasionally it hurt.  The things that triggered pain were as you said reaching up and sleeping on that side.  My BS said no repetitive motion, no heavy lifting, no push ups or planks.  I found that pulling with the arm on the port side was also a bad thing. I like to kayak and BS said not with the port in...so I have been missing out, which makes me sad. I am happy to be getting mine out next week same time as UMX. Hope you get used to it and it gets easier to tolerate. 

Ladies the ports are worth putting up with. I was not given the option and now my arm veins are all a mess.Lab techs have a terrible time getting blood samples from chemo damaged veins.

thank you, eph3, mumayan, FLWarrior, and seyla888!  it's good to know that there isn't something wrong with me!  my incision still isn't completely healed right above the port or where that thing goes into my vein, so i'm probably expecting too much too soon.  i'm grateful to have it, though. i'm just a little over-sensitive to anything going wrong.  i think i'm pretty much a big baby!

Lynnie-I just finished 16/33 rad treatments and so far they have been so much easier than chemo.  I t is a little annoying that it is an every day thing and laying on the table alone listening to the machines can be nerve racking but so far I have no SE.  make sure to take good care of your skin.  I apply pure aloe after every treatment and use aquaphor at night and emu oil in the morning. a combination of what the girls on the radiation page were reccomending.  Good luck and keep us posted on how you are doing.

I will be there Barbe I am bringing  Dreamwriter(Regina) with me.

I have a wonderful love/hate relationship with my port. I KNOW it was a blessing when I was going thru chemo, I had weekly taxol and then 4XAC so between all that and the blood draws, it was definitely worth it. I used to donate blood regularly so my non- BC arm is quite scarred up from that. So it all worked out--but I have always hated having the alien being in my chest. I keep hitting it, OWCH, especially when I lift things. And like you YAYA, it hurt from the surgery probably longer than it should. Its been 8 months since chemo ended and I will see what my MO says next week about taking it out. Last visit she said she wanted to wait at least a year after chemo was over before removing it. To say she is cautious, is an understatement!!

Ya Ya when the they took your blood did they have you turn your head to the right sometimes it is against the wall.  They had to go in my vein and fix it. But once they work out the kinks it is your best friend.  Thank you all for my blessings I have to wait 2 weks they lile you  be out of surgery that long I have my simulation on 23 of Aug.

They had to do a cauterization where they went up through the vein in my leg.  My port also flips around and I have to flip it back anything that could go wrong with me did.

Hello Middies - Just stopping in to let everyone know that DH and I are leaving in the morning for a 4 day convention in San Antonio.  We will be down on the Riverwalk and planning on having a good time.  This is a short break from the job and a chance for us to see how our new help will do without us around.  We will still be close enough if anything major goes on.

Will talk to everyone either Monday night or Tues sometime.

Here's my port story. This goes back 17+ years. My BS actually put it in. Everyone in my support group thought I had the best looking port ever. When I would show it to newbies the others would say - "Don't get the idea that your's is ever going to look that good." Never had any trouble with it. It was so hard drawing blood from me without it and I was so superstitious that if I took it out I would need it again - I kept it for 5 years. I go in to have my MX scar revised (failed recon) and decide it's time to have the port out, too. Anesthesia can't start an IV. They look at my port and ask, "Does that still work?" They ended up using the port to put me to sleep. Once I was out, they poked and prodded to put an IV in my arm, so they could take out the port. Blood draws are better, but starting and keeping an IV is still a pain in the a$$. Every time I go in for surgery, I wish I still had it.

Hey janis, nice to see you here!

Jo have a very, very, very good break!!! I look forward to hearing how it all went when you get back.