So today was my port insertion. I had to be at the hospital at 7:15am (no breakfast :() to register (even though the nurse's station I then had to report to didn't open until 7:30am) and had stayed out later than planned the night before having dinner with friends (and breaking the news).
They of course had to take MORE blood today (they didn't test for all the things they needed today on Tuesday when I gave blood...of course). The right arm was unsuccessful today so she drew from just above my right knuckle! Argh! This port should make all of this a bit easier! So I was prepped for the insertion which actually considered minor day surgery. I was given a sedative to relax me...very good! Prep...like surgery, 3 nurses and the radiologist doing the insertion. The nurse showed me what a port looked like..sort of amond sized with a tube that is inserted into a major vein in my chest. The top of the port has a 1cm dia membrane that needles can be inserted and this is all under the skin so it will just be one little prick to access it.
The whole surgery was weird because I was awake but well frozen...but I could feel all the tugging. Just near the end before suturing I had a pretty weird experience...I think my body was considering shutting down (I had something a bit similar with the biopsy in February)....the room started to spin and disappear and then tears started streaming down my face! I did not see that coming! It's not like I was sad..it was a physical reaction! I had been chatting with the nurses. They were all really nice and I think tried to keep me chatting to keep my mind off of what was going on. I told them that if/when I lost my hair I was hoping it wouldn't come back grey! They thought that was pretty funny (and said wasn't I too young to have grey hair...I wish). They were also all very interested to hear what I did for a living....assessing risk of people getting cancer from contaminated sites...ironic eh! I came out of there feeling pretty peaceful actually....partly because everyone was so nice. Gobbled down my snacks and juice and then had a nap until Steve picked me up.
At home I slept most of the afternoon...I was pretty groggy. I feel okay now but am guessing might feel a bit sore later. The dressing is huge! It is also a pressure bandage so I can't turn my head because of it and still have pinky prep stuff all over my neck. The made 2 incisions to put it in the port, one on my neck and one on my chest. I am supposed to have the dressings on for about a week and they may not be able to use it for Chemo this Tuesday :( We'll see I guess.
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