Chemo ports and other foreign objects inside my body
When I last had to admit myself into hospital, the form was pretty straight forward. When I had to do it for my initial diagnostic scope, I just had to add that I'd had laparascopic surgery before. In a very short amount of time, all that has changed.
Now, I have a list of medications to include. I have to tell them I have esophageal stents and I also have to let them know that I have a 'power port' or port-a-cath. What's that, you might ask? WELL... as soon as we confirmed that I was going to be on this clinical trial, I was booked in to get a port "installed".
It sounded simple, painless and convenient. The oncologist said it's a little device that sits under the skin. Ummm.. okay. This is how it's "installed" (GRAPHIC VIDEO!)
I was lucky that the radiology surgeon who installed my port was a pro and liked to listen to music while he worked. So we put on some Queen and I was awake the entire time, talking away apparently. I told them how I'd been diagnosed, how I moved back from LA to get treatment, the whole yarn.
By the time Bohemian Rhapsody rolled along, we were all singing along as they sewed me up. The procedure was quick and minimally painful. The only pain was when he had to insert the giant needles into me to numb the areas. I didn't feel any of the tunnelling or cutting. I wasn't even that sore afterwards in recovery.
So the way it works is that there's this device that sits under the skin and it feeds into a major vein. It saves time finding a vein - really handy for people like me who have difficult veins. The oncology nurse accesses the device with a special needle that can stay in for 7 days and all sorts of good shit can be given to me via IV using the needle.
They left me accessed after surgery because I was getting chemo THE VERY NEXT DAY. That's right. My very first chemo cycle was right after surgery, so I spent the week healing, receiving toxic chemical drugs and aunt Flo decided to join the party too. It was a harrowing experience but I came out the other end relatively OK.
Every cycle since hasn't been as troublesome but they also haven't been easy on me symptoms-wise. The first cycle had worse symptoms like cold sensitivity, mouth sores and metallic tastes in my mouth. Now the worst I get is dealing with chemo brain fog and fatigue. I am basically confused all the time. Nausea also pops up every now and then.
The thing people don't always know about chemo is that it isn't just sitting in a chair for a few hours and then you're done. It depends on WHICH chemo drugs you receive. There are numerous. I am getting two and an immunotherapy/placebo as part of the clinical trial. One I receive while in the chair at hospital, along with saline, magnesium, potassium and the clinical drug. Then they hook up a vacuum-infusion bottle of chemo drug 2 to my port and send me away.
This bottle is attached to me for the next FIVE NIGHTS. I can't shower properly because the port is accessed and I don't really feel like doing anything because mentally I feel subhuman. All my cancer buddies who get the same bottle feel the same way, except their infusions are only 46 hours, whereas I'm the only one on 120 hours. They commend me for doing it for this long and continuing chemo, haha. Trust me, I don't want to.
But I also don't want to die, so if the chemo is helping shrink the cancer... so be it. When I'm not accessed, you can see the port clearly through my skin. It has 3 nodules that protrude through the skin - so that nurses can aim for the middle of the 3 nodules when sticking a needle in. It's pretty cool, really! And it healed pretty nicely too. No issues with the incision or placement other than sometimes feeling a little weird/wonky. I mean, it's just a piece of plastic under the skin with a tube tunnelled through my skin and into a major vein.. no big deal.
Me at my first chemo:
I have 2 more cycles with the platinum-based chemo drug I get at hospital. Then 2 more with just the bottle drug. 4 total -- for now. I am not 100% what the plan is after - it should just be immunotherapy/placebo and monitoring but I guess it all depends on the scans whether I'd be put on some kind of maintenance chemo. It could be the bottle going forward. It's normally chemo pills but since I have gastric cancer, that can be tricky in terms of absorption and frequent bouts of vomitting/regurgitation.
Cancer's a pain in the ass.
Now, I have a list of medications to include. I have to tell them I have esophageal stents and I also have to let them know that I have a 'power port' or port-a-cath. What's that, you might ask? WELL... as soon as we confirmed that I was going to be on this clinical trial, I was booked in to get a port "installed".
It sounded simple, painless and convenient. The oncologist said it's a little device that sits under the skin. Ummm.. okay. This is how it's "installed" (GRAPHIC VIDEO!)
I was lucky that the radiology surgeon who installed my port was a pro and liked to listen to music while he worked. So we put on some Queen and I was awake the entire time, talking away apparently. I told them how I'd been diagnosed, how I moved back from LA to get treatment, the whole yarn.
By the time Bohemian Rhapsody rolled along, we were all singing along as they sewed me up. The procedure was quick and minimally painful. The only pain was when he had to insert the giant needles into me to numb the areas. I didn't feel any of the tunnelling or cutting. I wasn't even that sore afterwards in recovery.
So the way it works is that there's this device that sits under the skin and it feeds into a major vein. It saves time finding a vein - really handy for people like me who have difficult veins. The oncology nurse accesses the device with a special needle that can stay in for 7 days and all sorts of good shit can be given to me via IV using the needle.
They left me accessed after surgery because I was getting chemo THE VERY NEXT DAY. That's right. My very first chemo cycle was right after surgery, so I spent the week healing, receiving toxic chemical drugs and aunt Flo decided to join the party too. It was a harrowing experience but I came out the other end relatively OK.
Every cycle since hasn't been as troublesome but they also haven't been easy on me symptoms-wise. The first cycle had worse symptoms like cold sensitivity, mouth sores and metallic tastes in my mouth. Now the worst I get is dealing with chemo brain fog and fatigue. I am basically confused all the time. Nausea also pops up every now and then.
The thing people don't always know about chemo is that it isn't just sitting in a chair for a few hours and then you're done. It depends on WHICH chemo drugs you receive. There are numerous. I am getting two and an immunotherapy/placebo as part of the clinical trial. One I receive while in the chair at hospital, along with saline, magnesium, potassium and the clinical drug. Then they hook up a vacuum-infusion bottle of chemo drug 2 to my port and send me away.
This bottle is attached to me for the next FIVE NIGHTS. I can't shower properly because the port is accessed and I don't really feel like doing anything because mentally I feel subhuman. All my cancer buddies who get the same bottle feel the same way, except their infusions are only 46 hours, whereas I'm the only one on 120 hours. They commend me for doing it for this long and continuing chemo, haha. Trust me, I don't want to.
But I also don't want to die, so if the chemo is helping shrink the cancer... so be it. When I'm not accessed, you can see the port clearly through my skin. It has 3 nodules that protrude through the skin - so that nurses can aim for the middle of the 3 nodules when sticking a needle in. It's pretty cool, really! And it healed pretty nicely too. No issues with the incision or placement other than sometimes feeling a little weird/wonky. I mean, it's just a piece of plastic under the skin with a tube tunnelled through my skin and into a major vein.. no big deal.
Me at my first chemo:
Cancer's a pain in the ass.
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