Here's My Port

Last week I had my last surgery on my reconstructed chest. I also had my port taken out. When I talked to the nurse about taking the port out, I asked him if I could keep it and take it home. He looked at me like I was crazy, and then said, "I guess, if you want to you can." I told him I wanted to photograph it and blog about it and he just laughed! So, they cleaned it all up, put it in a cup with alcohol, and sent it home. I forgot about it for about a week, then asked Rick where is was - it was still in the cup. When I opened lid, the smell of alcohol just about sent me over the edge - that smell has way too many memories for me! Anyway, I here are the pictures of the port if you are interested in what it is. It's metal, so a little bit heavy. They sew it to a muscle and then, because it stays in there so long (in my case, over a year), stuff grows around it. I couldn't figure out why it hurt so bad after the port was taken out. It still is very sore. My doctor told me how he had to basically dig it out. Ouch!! No wonder it's sore.

I think it's funny how it's shaped like a heart. It's all metal except that little circle in the middle. That's where the nurse would stick the needle to give me chemo, take my blood, give me other medicines, or access for an IV for surgery.

See those 3 little nobs on the top? The nurse would feel through my skin for those three little nobs, and then, when she found them, she'd stick the needle in the middle. You'd think it would be easy, but it's pretty tough to find those sometimes.


It's not very big, right? I was so happy that I had a port. Because I had lymph nodes taken from my left side, there can be no sticks on that arm. So, they had to use either a port, or my right arm. For some unknown reason, the veins in my right arm SUCK! No one can find them. It took them 8 tries - 8 TRIES - to find a vein for my mastectomy surgery (before I had a port). They finally, after torturing me by jabbing a huge needle into my arm, hand, wrist, etc., decided to put me to sleep before they finally put an IV in. From then on, I was able to have my port accessed for any surgeries or tests I had to have.