WEEK 10: Porta-Catheters & Chemo Treatments

The week after my chemo consult in Rexburg, I came back down for the "real deal." I had to come down for two days on this trip. First was a consult with a surgeon, Dr. Hansen, on April 14. He would be doing a small surgery where he puts a porta-catheter into my chest, and puts a long tube down into a fast moving vein. That way the chemo gets flushed away pretty quickly, and doesn't fry your veins. They are then able to use this same spot in the chest to put the IV needles in for every treatment, and don't have to hunt for a new vein each time. That is a huge blessing for a person like me who has crummy veins. The thought of getting stabbed 5 times looking for veins at each treatment - I'd probably choose to crawl in a hole and hide instead.

I did all of my pre-check that same day, since I needed to be there at 6:00 a.m. the following morning. My in-laws, Richard & Nora Lee brought me to Rexburg and dropped me off at the hospital. Since Jamie was taking Reese to a doctor's appointment when I was done, my sweet sister-in-law Brenda came and picked me up at the hospital and took me to her house where I got to visit with her and my big bro, Stan, as well as their youngest daughter, Ashley, for a while. It's always fun to visit with family. When Conrad and Jamie got back home, Brenda took me to their place, where I spent the night again. Rich got there late that evening so he could run me to the hospital early in the morning.

The next morning was creepy to me -finding myself being wheeled into surgery again, not much more than a month since the last surgery. Fortunately, everything went fine. Dr. Hansen made an incision less than 2 inches long, and put in the port and catheter tube. He also went ahead and put the needle line into it so it would be ready for my first Chemo treatment. Like a dummy, I figured the port surgery site would be kind of sore for a few days, and then no more. Not so! The stinking thing is still tender and sore, now 2 months later!

This second pic is from just a week after the surgery, to show all of the fun bruising (You can also kind of see the lump where the port is.). That afternoon I went to my first Chemo treatment, which officially puts me where I started this blog clear back in April. After the treatment was done, Rich and I hit the road and headed home. Most people had told me it takes a day or two for the effects the kick in, so I just wanted to be home, near my own bed before I started to feel crummy. Now instead of being sore on just my right side, my left side also hurts to sleep on cause it scrunches on the port and makes it hurt. I can't win! How is a person suppose to sleep?!