Sluggish port

LaundryQueen
LaundryQueen Member Posts: 676
in Ovarian Cancer #1
Got a question re: my PowerPort. I was in Tijuana at an integrative cancer clinic getting treatments for 3 weeks but I had to use a peripheral vein for the blood draws--the port was OK for IV infusions only (the nurses couldn't get blood out of it).

Has anyone else had this experience--what should I do about it?

By the way, I won't know until I get another PET scan in October as to whether or not I was able to get into remission. I feel great and never did feel bad even though the CA-125 was doubling every 2-3 weeks from June to August. When it got over 200, I went to Mexico.

I had a PET scan right before I left town. It showed the "cysts" in my liver (previously described on the CT and MRI) were malignant-probably had been malignant since October 2010 when the lesions were first described.

LQ

Comments

  • MaxRudy
    MaxRudy Member Posts: 56
    #2
    Clogged Port

    Number 1, I so hope you are in remission and I want to hear more about your treatment in Mexico when u feel up to it. I just got an NED from my first post chemo scan. I'm looking into some complimentary therapies to keep it at bay....don't know if this is something Mexico could help with but I'm calling them next week to see what they suggest. Will also weigh their options with locally available options. Thus, save the Mexico trip if this disease rears its ugly head again.

    As for the clogged port, I have a PIC line which is a port for getting food intervenously, getting chemo or hydration infusions and also for my weekly blood draws. Every so often the blood won't come out and they use a "cath flo." It is infused into the port and the blood comes very easily after 30 to 45 minute wait (the directions say wait an hour.)

    melanie
  • lindaprocopio
    lindaprocopio Member Posts: 1,980
    #3
    MaxRudy said:

    Clogged Port

    Number 1, I so hope you are in remission and I want to hear more about your treatment in Mexico when u feel up to it. I just got an NED from my first post chemo scan. I'm looking into some complimentary therapies to keep it at bay....don't know if this is something Mexico could help with but I'm calling them next week to see what they suggest. Will also weigh their options with locally available options. Thus, save the Mexico trip if this disease rears its ugly head again.

    As for the clogged port, I have a PIC line which is a port for getting food intervenously, getting chemo or hydration infusions and also for my weekly blood draws. Every so often the blood won't come out and they use a "cath flo." It is infused into the port and the blood comes very easily after 30 to 45 minute wait (the directions say wait an hour.)

    melanie

    If it turns out you do have liver mets...
    I just wanted to suggest that you look into radioembolism if it turns out that you do have tumors in your liver. It is a very tolerable treatment, and if you are chemo-resistent, another option. For me, chemo worked okay for the cancer mets I have in my lymph nodes, but none of the 3 chemo edrugs I took once my liver lit up on a PET ever stopped my liver tumors from growing. I won't know how effective the radioembolism really was for another 3 or 4 months, but I am glad I did it in case it turns out to be the ticket for me.

    I never had any trouble with my port (knock on wood). Are they giving you a good heparin flush? I don't know how they do things in Mexico.
  • Tethys41
    Tethys41 Member Posts: 1,382 Member
    #4
    Clogging
    I had my port clog only one time, and I did what MaxRudy did. I went to the hospital where they put the cath flow into the port. They let it sit overnight for me, because I was having IV vitamin C the next morning. Everything flowed fine after that. I have made sure that they put in a full 10 cc of heparine when they lock the port. It seems like the problem started when they put less heparin in.
    Hope your trip to Mexico was a success. Welcome back and let us know the results of your treatment.
  • carolenk
    carolenk Member Posts: 907 Member
    #5
    Tethys41 said:

    Clogging
    I had my port clog only one time, and I did what MaxRudy did. I went to the hospital where they put the cath flow into the port. They let it sit overnight for me, because I was having IV vitamin C the next morning. Everything flowed fine after that. I have made sure that they put in a full 10 cc of heparine when they lock the port. It seems like the problem started when they put less heparin in.
    Hope your trip to Mexico was a success. Welcome back and let us know the results of your treatment.

    I had the same problem
    Get the cath flo ASAP before you end up with a clogged port!
  • LaundryQueen
    LaundryQueen Member Posts: 676
    #6
    carolenk said:

    I had the same problem
    Get the cath flo ASAP before you end up with a clogged port!

    Thanks!
    Glad to know there is a simple solution for the port situation--I don't know if I could get the insurance to pay to have the port replaced unless I was going back on chemo.

    In Mexico, I got four treatments of the low dose of insulin potentiated chemo & I could tell it was killing off the cancer because it HURT in tbe area where I knew there was cancer in the omentum. I never felt bad from the 80mg dose of carboplatin like I did when I took 560mg of carbo. The main reason I picked the clinic I went to was because of the stem cell therapy that I could get there. The treatments were done Monday thru Saturday from 9am to 3pm--hyperthermia & sonodynamic treatments with laser & Rife machine treatments, too.


    I was told that the stem cell therapy is approved in the US for malignant melanoma & kidney cancer--it cost about $100K per treatment in the US. The trip to Mexico totalled about $20K. I had the option of going to China or Korea for stem cell therapy--glad I could go to Tijuana instead. It was a very positive experience overall. Now I have to be patient & wait for results.

    I'm supposed to be on Iscador (mistletoe) for the follow up program and am waiting to get it. I am taking Laetrile pills (5 days/week) & IV Laetrile (2days/week). I am also taking the Hoxsey tonic (and following the special diet that goes with it).

    Linda: I appreciate hearing about your treatment for the liver mets--I was pretty shocked to hear about the disease progression but I think the lesions have been stable for at least 9 months--maybe from the IV vitamin C infusions that I do every week. I got 50Gm of IV vitamin C almost daily in Mexico.

    Carolen: I wish I would have mentioned this to you sooner! Ugh, I hope it's not gonna clot up on me.

    LQ
  • lulu1010
    lulu1010 Member Posts: 367
    #7
    LaundryQueen said:

    Thanks!
    Glad to know there is a simple solution for the port situation--I don't know if I could get the insurance to pay to have the port replaced unless I was going back on chemo.

    In Mexico, I got four treatments of the low dose of insulin potentiated chemo & I could tell it was killing off the cancer because it HURT in tbe area where I knew there was cancer in the omentum. I never felt bad from the 80mg dose of carboplatin like I did when I took 560mg of carbo. The main reason I picked the clinic I went to was because of the stem cell therapy that I could get there. The treatments were done Monday thru Saturday from 9am to 3pm--hyperthermia & sonodynamic treatments with laser & Rife machine treatments, too.


    I was told that the stem cell therapy is approved in the US for malignant melanoma & kidney cancer--it cost about $100K per treatment in the US. The trip to Mexico totalled about $20K. I had the option of going to China or Korea for stem cell therapy--glad I could go to Tijuana instead. It was a very positive experience overall. Now I have to be patient & wait for results.

    I'm supposed to be on Iscador (mistletoe) for the follow up program and am waiting to get it. I am taking Laetrile pills (5 days/week) & IV Laetrile (2days/week). I am also taking the Hoxsey tonic (and following the special diet that goes with it).

    Linda: I appreciate hearing about your treatment for the liver mets--I was pretty shocked to hear about the disease progression but I think the lesions have been stable for at least 9 months--maybe from the IV vitamin C infusions that I do every week. I got 50Gm of IV vitamin C almost daily in Mexico.

    Carolen: I wish I would have mentioned this to you sooner! Ugh, I hope it's not gonna clot up on me.

    LQ

    port not working
    Many times when the port is ok for infusions but not for blood draws it is because when the suction is applied to pull out the blood the opening gets pulled up against the side of the vein and keeps the blood from entering. You have to try different positions as I am sure you did. Flushing helps sometimes but not always. I had a temp cath that they had to unsuture and reposition. It may work the next time just because the tip is in a different position. I do hope they get it going...good luck!

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