Dum Dum Dum...

Wednesday - dum dum dum, the day of the port fitting! Got to the hospital in good time, checked in and then was taken to the room by the nurse. Went through all the paper work and had my obs done, which all in all took about half an hour. Had to then change into the hospital gown and dressing gown. Tried to just stay relaxed and watched morning TV while my stomach was going berserk, never had an operation before!

At about 10.30am, the Dr came to see me, who was going to be inserting the port. He went through the procedure with me and asked if I had any questions. He explained what a port was - 'An implantable port is a thin, soft, plastic tube that is put into a vein in your chest or arm and has an opening (port) just under the skin. This allows medicines to be given into the vein or blood to be taken from the vein'. He explained it would make my life a lot easier, assured me I would get used to it and become quite attached to it - well I don't know about that! Have to say once he was gone was more nervous, it sounded more scary then when we had talked about it at last chemotherapy!

Shortly after he had gone the nurse came to collect me. She was very nice and walked me down to theatre. She asked me how I was feeling and I told her I was nervous but she said I would be fine.
Went into the anesthetists room and got onto the chair. Had a cannula put in my arm and then was given some sedation, which when it first hits you makes you feel really light headed. The guys were really relaxed and nice, in fact I think they chatted, joked the whole time! Was then wheeled into the theatre and had the procedure done. Don’t really remember much of it, you are kind of in a trance state, although I know I talked to anesthetist and consultant throughout and didn’t really feel anything just some pushing and pulling but that was it really. Tried to scratch my nose at one point, and was quickly shouted at to not move! Also remember seeing them stitching me up, the thread and needle kept going up and down above my head! Had to spend 10 minutes in recovery afterwards, they checked my obs and then I was taken back down to my room. All in all it was a lot quicker and a lot less painless than I thought. A unique and strange experience.

Afterwards the Dr came down to see me and check that the port was ok and not too bruised or swollen. Had a look at it and it was very neat and didn’t look like it had the dressing on it, it had it was just see through like a second skin. Afterwards I was free to go.

That was the easy bit, over the next few days my arm was very painful and I couldn't really lift my arm above my head, it was very sore. Still managed to go out Friday night though for Lanny's birthday though...