Anxious about the port..

I'm sorry about your father's experience. I just want to share my positive experience with the port. I started AC using an IV and boy... did that mess with my veins. (I've always had "good" veins, too. Really easy for me to give blood). After 2 infusions, I was sent to get a port. The surgeon told me he prefers to do ports before tx starts because the body heals better and he also told me that my vein (artery? Cant remember which) was possibly to small and he might have to go deeper for a bigger vein, which also increases risk of complications...so I was a bit scared before surgery. Fortunately surgery was easy and I healed really well. There are risks to port surgery but mine went well and I suspect most do. However if you are concerned have you talked about the possibility of IV infusion? Again for me IV didn't work well but for others it may. Best wishes.

You will have a minimum of 17 infusions, not counting blood draws, over the year of treatment for Her2+ disease, so I would strongly recommend a port.

I will say that everyone I know loved loved loved their port and I wanted to love mine too.  My story is a rarity and if I were you, I'd go with the port because you will be fine.

I got my port in a week before my first chemo visit.  It took about 2 weeks for me to adjust, but I always felt the catheter in the vein and it was visible.  After my second chemo treatment, I had a really stiff neck.  After going round and round with my BS and MO, I was sent for a PVL and had multiple blood clots in my jugular, under arm and shoulder and was put on Coumadin.  I had two more treatments and on my 4th treatment, I had a lot of pressure when the drugs were being pushed.  Before my 5th treatment, I was experiencing too much pressure on the push and was sent for an US under some type of fluoroscopy.  They found that the catheter was completely broken in my vein and had to be removed immediately.  It was removed that week and I have successfully had chemo treatments 5 and 6 through a vein in my arm.

My BS said she had never seen anything like mine and talked with the manufacturer.  It turns out that there was something wrong with the port/catheter to begin with.

The point of telling you is that my story is an abnormality!  Most people with ports love them rather than having chemo through a vein in their arm.

I wish you all the luck in the world!

Diane--I think there is a commenting software problem with the initial post not showing treatments, etc. I'm glad that you've come to a decision about the port and if you are typical, you'll have no problem with it. All these decisions are hard, but later on, the pieces fall in place and it doesn't seem so overwhelming.

Hi Diane

I'm coming into this conversation late but I hope you're doing well with your port. I was adamant against having one at first ... the thought of "something in me" freaked me out. I had a long talk with my oncologist and although he was very neutral in his thought of getting the port in, he did mention to me that the chemo drugs are very strong and could do damage to my veins/arm (I had 6 rounds of TC, followed by a year of herceptin). His concern was the fact that I play piano for a living and if I had severe issues with my arm it would effect my job. I took the hint and got the port.

It was done under twilight sedation and I can honestly say it was a great decision for me. I've had no problems with infections. The only issue I ran into was when it got very cold the area around my port got very sore (first time it happened I thought I was having mild chest pains and was convinced I was having a heart attack ... I tend to over-react). It was explained that when it gets cold, the bottom plastic part of the port also gets cold and irritates the chest muscle it's sitting against. So I just layered up and wore a big warm scarf and was fine. My family refers to it as my "Perdue turkey button" ... like the ones that pop out of a Thanksgiving turkey when it's done cooking. My own personal temperature indicator My port and the catheter are both visible under the skin (the port sticks out, and you can see the cath tube if I point it out). Now that summer's coming I'm a little concerned about that and wearing tank tops in the hot weather but I figure when I get hot enough I won't care.

So in the grand scheme of things, I'm glad I did it. It causes very little discomfort and I think it hurts less to get the needle poke there then when they take my pre-treatment blood draw.

Good wishes for continued success with your port!!!