I kept my port! Why? many of you may ask, and the answer is complicated and a bit to realistic for someone like me. I don't think I ever shared this with many , A. was in the dr office with me when I asked a very hard question: - What is the percentage of chance that this thing will come back? ... I asked while waiting for a very small number and then I heard: 40%! That was much higher than what I expected to hear .. but quickly I did the "glass half full kind of mind trick. OK.. I have SIXTY % of NOT coming back. The odds are on my favor.. barely but are.
So, back to the port. This thing was a life saver for someone like me that has bad veins and veins that DO NOT collaborate when they need to. Specially when I was poke and plugged and poked what it feels like a MILLION times. I had ZERO complications when I put the port, because I had only had one treatment and was very healthy and with an immune system still pretty normal. I know that what were horrible days at the hospital last summer would have been much worse if my veins had to be put into the equation.
So I have a goal... March 2010! That will be 3 years of diagnosis ( God Willing!) and from then, my chances of relapse go way under that 40% that I heard.. on March 2010... I will be "DEPORTED" and after this reminder of cancer will leave my body.. C. and I will go on a celebratory trip...
Ok, back to Port and Routine... This week was my dr visit where I had to get the port "cared for".. basically they just flush with Heparin to make sure there is no blood clogs etc... Plus blood is taken out from the port for tests...
How many times had they poked me just liked that during treatment??? almost everyday or at least once a week ... it became routine.. . I pulled my shirt to the side and "PLUG"... there they went and took what they needed... I hated but honestly had no pain...
This week... I was reminded of how you can really forget the hard parts and almost become normal again because the port hurt ( it had not been used as the tunnel of so much toxins into my body) ..and the little blood that they took made me dizzy and I needed a toast and juice....
I almost became normal again!!!!!
big kiss.....
3 comments:
VB actually was actually "deported" on Monday -- it was done with a mix of excitement and fear. Sadly, they are pretty easy to put in, so given the risk of infection in little ones they really encourage that they come out as soon as they can.
He has ALWAYS been great about being accessed -- in fact, I get much more grief and misery changing his diaper! We've already talked, though, about the next time someone needs to take a blood draw, and how it will be different than having a port (he actually hasn't had a peripheral IV since before he was a baby and clearly doesn't remember).
The countdown to 2010 is on!
Ps. Thanks for the donation to the walk -- it means SO MUCH!
2010? My doctor says the port stays in for just one year after the end of treatment.
For me, that was November 2006, but then my cancer came back in August the next year - just nine months.
I thought, "Good thing my cancer came back BEFORE I had my port removed!" Would have been a real bummer to have a recurrence AND have to have the port surgically implanted for the second time.
Thank goodness for small favors.
oh boy - I never had to have a port. Am I happy or sad? I got beefy chemo needles stuck in me every 3 weeks. The first time they missed a few times and I was less than pleased to begin my first chemo with 4 pokes. Can you feel it? Why does it stay in? I don't understand anything about a port because I never had one. Not sure if I would prefer surgery for a port or needle pokes all the time. Ick...what is the lesser of those 2 evils?
Cheers again to remission...I hope it stays gone forever.
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