courtesy uwhealth.org
So I was planning on having breast reconstruction. As part of the planning I thought it would be nice if they removed my port at the same time. The two surgeons involved were not as enthusiastic about the idea. The port removal was first.
The wonderful thing about having your port removed is your oncologist signs off on it first. It means he thought I would not need my port in the foreseeable future, or I was done with treatments this time around. I made an appointment to have it done, and I asked them if I could drive myself home afterwards. They said I could, and I did. My Husband watched Baby during the procedure, and I spent the rest the day trying to keep her curious hands from ripping the gauze off and hitting it.
A few interesting things about the port removal.
First is the nurse at this surgeon's office who helped with the removal highlights as a photographer. She took the fall baseball pictures in our town. I forgot how I knew her as both parts of my life collided at the field the day she took C's picture. She reminded me and knows that I have chemo brain so it was not as awkward as it sounds. She did a good job on the pictures.
Second, I view the port removal as the beginning of the time where my body said enough is enough. The needles seemed to hurt more, the doctor was surprised at the thumping in my chest I could feel (and took action to stop it), I had a harder time relaxing, the numbing agent did not work as well and had to be reapplied.
Third, I remembered too late that I was allergic to the adhesive they used for the steri strips. I called them the next day, but I was already burned in the incision area and had gone through intense itching. After I called them, I called the breast reconstruction surgeon and told them so I would not have to go through that again.
I was more relieved than I expected that I was past the port time of my life.
The wonderful thing about having your port removed is your oncologist signs off on it first. It means he thought I would not need my port in the foreseeable future, or I was done with treatments this time around. I made an appointment to have it done, and I asked them if I could drive myself home afterwards. They said I could, and I did. My Husband watched Baby during the procedure, and I spent the rest the day trying to keep her curious hands from ripping the gauze off and hitting it.
A few interesting things about the port removal.
First is the nurse at this surgeon's office who helped with the removal highlights as a photographer. She took the fall baseball pictures in our town. I forgot how I knew her as both parts of my life collided at the field the day she took C's picture. She reminded me and knows that I have chemo brain so it was not as awkward as it sounds. She did a good job on the pictures.
Second, I view the port removal as the beginning of the time where my body said enough is enough. The needles seemed to hurt more, the doctor was surprised at the thumping in my chest I could feel (and took action to stop it), I had a harder time relaxing, the numbing agent did not work as well and had to be reapplied.
Third, I remembered too late that I was allergic to the adhesive they used for the steri strips. I called them the next day, but I was already burned in the incision area and had gone through intense itching. After I called them, I called the breast reconstruction surgeon and told them so I would not have to go through that again.
I was more relieved than I expected that I was past the port time of my life.
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