Shout out to Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara on Port Usage!

This is not strictly stage IV but many of us stage IV folks keep our ports for years. Members often wonder why their ports aren't used for blood draws, scans, or other things that require venous access. Of course, nurses do have to be specifically trained to perform port access and that appears to be a reason that ports are underutilized, IMO. There may be other reasons that I am not aware of as I only see the patient end of things.

I have received all of my care at Kaiser Permanente in Santa Clara, CA. Although I never ended up having chemo, long story, I have had a port for almost ten years! I have it flushed regularly and have blood draws at the infusion center. It's always used for my PET scans and has been used for all of my procedures/surgeries from a bone biopsy to the sinus surgery with septoplasty that I had five days ago. I have even had my port accessed in the ER. For tests and elective procedures, I just request port access in advance and it has always been taken care of. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Kaiser for having enough trained and available staff to make this stage IV life a little easier and painless. I do not know if all Kaiser facilities handle ports so well but the Santa Clara campus is outstanding.