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My First Port Placement
It’s two days before my medi-port placement on Thursday. I’ve been off my 81 MG aspirin regimen for 6 days now, to get ready for surgery. I’ve been advised (and it’s routine) to take no food or drink after midnight on surgery day. I am allowed my blood pressure meds with a bit of water the morning of. My transportation is set, because you don’t get to drive home from the hospital.
I’m documenting this procedure here so others on immunoglobulin therapy who may consider a port for themselves, can see how it goes for me. Setting IV’s for my infusions the last 6 months has been difficult and stressful. And it’s stressful for the nurses who can’t get a good stick too. My infusions take two days every four weeks, and it’s taken as many as 10 sticks to get two IV’s. I started forgoing a new IV on the second day by going home with the first one overnight. This has proven to be uncomfortable, and at times, painful. I couldn’t do that again. My veins aren’t good, and as the Director of Nursing at my infusion center said, “…your veins not going to get any better.” With the goodness I get from immunoglobulin and the ongoing infusions ahead, it’s going to be a port for me now. I’m a bit apprehensive about the procedure, but excited for a much easier infusion routine ahead. Wish me luck! I’ll be back here with you after the surgery! -
18 Replies
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Good luck Price! Keep us updated on how it goes! I would definitely try to drink as much water as you can today to hydrate yourself!
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Go get ‘em Price! I know your IVs have been super stressful. I’ll be watching for your “two thumbs up” tomorrow!
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Today is Port Placement Day! I always try to give plenty of extra time getting ready, so I can arrive and check-in at Day Surgery on time. After stirring from soothing wake up alarm music provided by Alexa, I got ready at an easy pace and fed the cats. It felt unhurried , but I left 10 minutes behind schedule. After transferring to my sister’s car for the final drive in, I arrived and checked in at the procedure desk no more than a few minutes late. All good!
Nick the RN and Sharon made me comfortable getting ready. Sharon slipped in what should be the last IV in the back of my hand, no problem. I love pros! Prepping at Interventional Radiology continued and I met my surgeon and team. We talked about my procedure, why I was doing it, and went through the flow of the procedure. Everyone was friendly and made every effort to make me comfortable. I was visibly shivering because I don’t regulate temperature very well. It felt so cold. I love those toasty warm blankets they pull out for you! After a final trip to the potty, I was ready to go into the procedure room.
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We’re here!!! The procedure room has four or five techs scurrying around getting me ready. I see the table with a giant video screen at one end to display my vitals and real-time imagery the surgeon will use to guide the placement. I want my knees up so someone puts a large leg roll under them. Good. They want my head down, flat on the table. That’s very uncomfortable and I groan audibly as I try for the position. They get me a tiny pillow to prop my head. We’re all good after they put another of those snuggly, warm blankets over me. Ricky warns me in advance and washes my shoulder and neck area with a cold liquid. Yikes…It is cold! A large, paper procedure area cover is put in place. They seem to think I’m ready…but I’m wide awake!!! Then, suddenly I get the good stuff in my IV and all is good with the world. Versed is a wonderful thing, and I am now a very happy boy. I hear my surgeon’s voice. It’s showtime!
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As my port placement begins, the surgeon tells me there will be a slight prick as he inserts the needle to deliver the local anesthetic. I feel it, but it’s nothing bad. I feel my paper procedure cover rustling around as he applies pressure and busily works with his hands. I mention that my neck feels stiff in it’s position. Quickly I feel another rush of goodness in my brain. It’s all good now! There it is again, another needle prick sensation, as more local anesthetic is delivered to a second area. No problem or pain there either. More paper rustling, pressure and hand movements. I ask the surgeon how it’s going, and he tells me he’s just wrapping up.
Back out in the holding area, I’m awake but groggy. It’s such a good groggy too. I see my surgeon and tell him I was awake for the whole thing. He looks at me and says, “Nope, you were really snoring in there.” Well. Maybe he did have a better perspective.
I’ll offer further comments on how it goes post-procedure as we get past the Big Placement Day… -
Those warm blankets are the best!! I want a blanket warmer at home…and someone to cover me up with them!! LOL
I’m so glad things went well for you. Thank you for sharing the whole process with our readers. It makes it easier to know what to expect.
I hope you are still feeling good tomorrow morning!!
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We are three days out now from my Power Port place. Everything seems to be normal, and I’ve checked the incision sites every day with no signs of infection. The first couple of days there was intense itching, accompanied by some minor discomfort and soreness in the surgery area. Now, on the third day, the itching is off and the port site is not sore to the touch. Everything looks good. I’ve had dressings on for three days, but think I’ll forgo that so the incisions, with steri-strips in place, can get some air. I plan to wear a loose tee-shirt and no heavy activity is planned for today. So far, so good…
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So…maybe everything did not go perfect. We all know stress can cause a LEMS flare. And what’s not more stressful than going into the hospital for a procedure, right? For me everything the day before and the day of, went as planned…no problems. Still, I noticed excessive fatigue the night before the procedure. I couldn’t stay awake watching TV and went to bed feeling exhausted. The next morning I noticed both hips were unusually weak walking into the hospital. It was definitely a LEMS flare. After the procedure and back at home, I resumed my normal medication schedule and routine. Everything returned to normal. Such is life with LEMS. I’ll have one further post to end this thread, the day we use my new Power Port for my next immunoglobulin infusion. I can’t wait!
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Price,
I’m so happy to hear that things went well for you! I think you will find the infusion process so much easier now! Looking forward to hearing how it goes!
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Price, Thank you so much for sharing your experience on your port placement! I’m sure it will be very helpful to all those that face the same procedure. I’m glad you are doing well looking back on it.
It is amazing how much stress can exasperate LEMS symptoms. I used to allow myself to get stressed out about situations beyond my control, until I learned that when it’s beyond my control, it does nothing good for me to stress about it- especially since it will make my LEMS symptoms worse. Having surgery is definitely a stressor that is hard to not let get to us. I’m glad you are back to feeling like yourself now!
It sounds like overall, you did great. Please share with us, on this string, your reaction to using your power port for the first time for IVIG!
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Guess I’m ready for my first infusion with the new Port. It has healed up nicely and seems very comfortable 12 days out from surgery.
Question. I don’t handle cold well, and given the port placement, how do I stay warm? Will I be able to cover up once the port is opened and ready? Surely yes, right? I always take a blanket so perhaps that will serve to keep me warm. Maybe I can put shirts back on?
Also, I’m curious just whom I should allow access to my port. I will be in hospital next week to take a new medication on. Are phlebotomists generally qualified to handle these? Or maybe it should be restricted to my nurses? Any experience or comments appreciated. -
Hi Price!
Good luck tomorrow! I certainly hope they can keep you warm tomorrow! Do you have a button up shirt you could wear with a zip up hoodie, so they can access and you can stay warm all at the same time?
I’m not a port expert but from what I’ve read you should not allow them to do blood draws through if if your veins can handle them….this lowers the risk of infection. Ashley sill have great insight- she’s on call tonight, so maybe send her a PM and she will be sure to answer it when she can.
Keep us posted!!
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Thanks for your thoughts, Dawn. I’ll definitely have a zip up hoodie with me tomorrow. Perhaps Ashley will weigh in. I don’t expect anyone but my infusion nurse to have access tomorrow, but I’m not sure about next week. Unless my nurse does the draws, I doubt I’ll allow anyone else access to it. I think that was Ashley’s take, if I remember correctly. There will be a lot of blood drawn next week as this med is put on.
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Thirteen days after my port surgery and I’m at the infusion center to give it a go for the first time. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit some apprehension that it would actually work okay. My nurse’s words, “we’re getting good blood return” made me extremely happy. She also was great at explaining everything as we went through the access procedures, and maintaining good sterile technique. The skin over the port has a nice incision mark across it, and the skin is numb. Inserting the 20 gauge, 3/4 inch needle caused almost no sensation, other than a slight prick. The complete infusion that day went extremely smooth, exactly as I’d hoped, and the whole reason I’d decided to ask for the port.
I went home with everything in place and returned for another quick, smooth infusion the next morning. Again, no problems and I was out as early as I’ve ever been.
So with that I’ll wrap up my portion of this thread. The procedure to place the port was well tolerated and it’s healing nicely now, after over two weeks. It performed flawlessly, sparing me the difficult attempts to set an IV somewhere on my arms or hand. It’s going to be a game changer! -
Price,
I apologize for the delay in response on my part!
I would not let anyone access your port, I would be very picky about this. I only use my port for my infusions as it is my lifeline and I only let experienced infusion or oncology nurses access it. A phlebotomist should not access your port! If I have any procedures, I usually see if they can get an IV because I would rather not use my port for anything aside from IVIG.
I’m so happy everything went smoothly for you, I had a feeling that it would! Having a port definitely makes the infusion process so much easier! Just remember, if for some reason, you can’t get IVIG, you will have to get your port flushed with heparin every four weeks to ensure it doesn’t clot and to keep it working well! They should always add heparin at the end of your infusion to keep it from clotting and remove it from the port before they begin each infusion
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I appreciate your feedback, Ashley. I feel I was lucky to have good infusion nurses at both ends of the process who took the time to explain what they were doing and why. That was a good experience.
Your point is taken on port access. I’m waiting now to go up to a hospital room to begin the process of adding an anti-arrhythmia drug which requires me to be here for close ECG monitoring. The hospital knows I have port access, but I’ve yet to speak to my staff about it. Per your comments, I will most likely decline to use it unless that’s what they want. Stay tuned. All in all, this port placement and first use has been a big success. -
Good Luck Chase!! Quality of life matters!!
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Thanks Romy. Full speed ahead! Ashley, you are so on it. When I checked into the VA hospital (home base) admissions knew I had a port. Up to the floor so did my nurse. It was obvious to me peripheral access was only appropriate. We did an IV as standard precaution, but with no plan to use it. No way you open a port for that. We did hang a bag of Mg but that was only after bloodwork. As you said, the only appropriate use is for our infusions. Infusion and oncology nurses only. Good heads up and information. Thanks Ashley!
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