Port Insertion

On Friday 21st June Dan and me turned up nice and early at the chemo factory as instructed. It was really weird seeing it empty given how manic it is come the afternoon.

The anaesthetist was very excited to see me there already as they had four patients on their morning list. He wanted to get started straight away. So I get gowned up and walk down to theatre. Best laid plans...

Again I ended up chatting to a very nice nurse for some considerable time. He asked me about my job and I told him, then panicked that he might hate Solicitors and do something awful to me whilst I was in theatre!! I'm sure that would never really happen.

I asked whether all the nurses and people would still be in the room during the procedure and was told yes and more would probably arrive too. My doctor himself was in an early morning meeting. There were also anaesthetists and x ray nurses as they use chest x ray to ensure that the Port has been correctly placed. There was an added complication in that maintenance had been called to sort out a lead door to the theatre which had a missing lock. Not sure whether that was ever resolved. 

The anaesthetist had to put my cannula in the side of my hand due to bruising from blood tests earlier in the week. Given this poor state of affairs from just a couple of blood tests I was optimistic that the Port could only be a good thing despite the initial faff.

I was not nervous at all about this procedure and I was even looking forward to trying a new form of sedation! With the local plus sedative this meant no need for breathing tubes either and no real recovery time afterwards. 

Finally I was on the table and the doctor started checking my veins with the ultrasound. They told me I might feel woozy and that is the last thing I remember before waking up in Recovery. 

Afterwards the nurse on the Unit looked at my dose of Propofol and assumed I must have been aware during the procedure but I was completely asleep! Good stuff. Easy to overdose, allegedly...

Sadly without the numbness and whatever pain relief they give you during a more major op, the port has so far been more painful than the double mastectomy. Ho hum. Once the uncomfortableness goes I am sure the benefits of having it will outweigh some short term discomfort for a few days.