Anything I should be aware of: having port removed later on?

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coloCan
coloCan Member Posts: 1,944 Member
edited March 2014 in Colorectal Cancer #1
After all I've been thru this should be nothing as surgeon who put it in a year ago and did colostomy will be removing it at 10:30 AM when he's wide awake and alert (he took a minivacation prior to my surgery-I love this man!!!!)I might not ask all I should (and even when I write things down, I then forget where I put paper sometimes tho I have folders for all things CRC(bills-paid/to pay,journal,test results,blood work, consent forms,etc). After this, no more foreign objects in body except bag of honor, which remains for ever (not the individual bag currently in use, of course, just the stoma and all it entails remains).
Anything I should know to better heal after port removal?
Life seems a "little" different once you've been thru this sheet doesn't it?
......steve

Comments

  • khl8
    khl8 Member Posts: 807
    #2
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    Hey Steve!
    The port removal
    Hey Steve!
    The port removal is a piece of cake after everything else you have been through. Mine was done under sedation and in the OR, some have theirs out in the office.
    It was sore for about a week but nothing compared to the other surgeries. CONGRATS on this milestone!!!!!
    Kathy
  • coloCan
    coloCan Member Posts: 1,944 Member
    #3
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    khl8 said:

    Hey Steve!
    The port removal
    Hey Steve!
    The port removal is a piece of cake after everything else you have been through. Mine was done under sedation and in the OR, some have theirs out in the office.
    It was sore for about a week but nothing compared to the other surgeries. CONGRATS on this milestone!!!!!
    Kathy

    After problems I had with PICCs (cos port stopped working)
    I don't take nothing for granted tho from what I already read here, this should be nothing. Thanks for quick,supportive response Kathy!!!!
  • Jaylo969
    Jaylo969 Member Posts: 824 Member
    #4
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    Good luck Steve!
    Most people seem to have an easy time with port removal. Me...I am 3 months out and it is still very bothersome where the stitches were tied off. Seems they didn't dissolve.That is NOT unusual for me, though. You'll do fine Steve.Good riddance foreign objects!

    -Pat
  • TxKayaker
    TxKayaker Member Posts: 176
    #5
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    Jaylo969 said:

    Good luck Steve!
    Most people seem to have an easy time with port removal. Me...I am 3 months out and it is still very bothersome where the stitches were tied off. Seems they didn't dissolve.That is NOT unusual for me, though. You'll do fine Steve.Good riddance foreign objects!

    -Pat

    I'm with Pat I'm about 2
    I'm with Pat I'm about 2 months out & my incision has not healed completely. I hope you have better luck with yours.
    Mike
  • KathiM
    KathiM Member Posts: 8,028 Member
    #6
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    It was a big day.....
    My port stayed thru both of my cancers, and I was even (after MUCH pushing of the hospital staff...) fed thru it when my bowel obstructed...

    I had an easy time, although because of it's location and type, I was under (maybe conscious sedation...I don't remember), and it was done as an outpatient procedure. I waited till it healed, and then started applying Vitamin E oil so that the scar would be less noticable. (I did this with my 'up-and-down' scar, and my breast cancer lumpectomy scars, too). It was in a prominent place on my right chest wall, but unless I point it out, it can't be seen. This was especially important for me, because I wear V necklines, and it shows.

    Congrats on the 'graduation'! I always said that this was a sign that the cancer COULD NOT return!

    Hugs, Kathi
  • KathiM
    KathiM Member Posts: 8,028 Member
    #7
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    Jaylo969 said:

    Good luck Steve!
    Most people seem to have an easy time with port removal. Me...I am 3 months out and it is still very bothersome where the stitches were tied off. Seems they didn't dissolve.That is NOT unusual for me, though. You'll do fine Steve.Good riddance foreign objects!

    -Pat

    Ask your doctor....
    He/she can possibly remove the remaining stitches...they did that with my underarm ones that didn't dissolve completely from my breast cancer surgery. (I kept 'shaving' them when I did my armpits...lol!)

    Hugs, Kathi
  • taraHK
    taraHK Member Posts: 1,952 Member
    #8
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    All good for me
    I've had two ports removed -- both times under local or no (?!) anesthetic. (It's like childbirth -- my mind blocked that one out a little). Minor discomfort for a day or two afterwards and then 100% fine. I realize everyone's experience is different, and I'm not trying to sound like some macho hero (heaven know I appreciate the odd anesthetic or two) -- but I just want to let you know that there is a range of experiences out there -- and I certainly hope and pray you are on the happy/easy end of the spectrum.

    Tara
  • coloCan
    coloCan Member Posts: 1,944 Member
    #9
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    taraHK said:

    All good for me
    I've had two ports removed -- both times under local or no (?!) anesthetic. (It's like childbirth -- my mind blocked that one out a little). Minor discomfort for a day or two afterwards and then 100% fine. I realize everyone's experience is different, and I'm not trying to sound like some macho hero (heaven know I appreciate the odd anesthetic or two) -- but I just want to let you know that there is a range of experiences out there -- and I certainly hope and pray you are on the happy/easy end of the spectrum.

    Tara

    biggest worry was after all I'd been thru, this would do me in
    but here I am at home, hurting a bit with tape all across my left chest(thats what my percocet/vicodin is for,when needed)so I'll rest a few days, exercise my legs til I can do arms again and then get on as best I can with living as we all strive to do. Its been about a year for me since Dx and I plan on taking up computer space here for another 30-50 years so get used to me. I receive tons of stuff via email from all sorts of sites pertaining to cancer research being currently done and periodically i'll tell about something promising/interesting; nanotechnology is to me a very promising field of study....Hope all doing as well as can be with the future being brighter......steve

    Thats whats so great about this site: in addition to moral support, people share their experiences so others can learn and be less scared as this has been the most frightful trip I've ever been on.
  • jams67
    jams67 Member Posts: 925 Member
    #10
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    surgery
    It is surgery and hurts when it is removed. Wish mine had not been done in the office. After 3 years it is still a little tender there. That being said, I did have problems while the port was in and that was the reason it was removed. Just follow your docs advice. What else can we do? If you trust your doc, he knows more that any of us. Jo Ann
  • AnneCan
    AnneCan Member Posts: 3,673 Member
    #11
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    coloCan said:

    biggest worry was after all I'd been thru, this would do me in
    but here I am at home, hurting a bit with tape all across my left chest(thats what my percocet/vicodin is for,when needed)so I'll rest a few days, exercise my legs til I can do arms again and then get on as best I can with living as we all strive to do. Its been about a year for me since Dx and I plan on taking up computer space here for another 30-50 years so get used to me. I receive tons of stuff via email from all sorts of sites pertaining to cancer research being currently done and periodically i'll tell about something promising/interesting; nanotechnology is to me a very promising field of study....Hope all doing as well as can be with the future being brighter......steve

    Thats whats so great about this site: in addition to moral support, people share their experiences so others can learn and be less scared as this has been the most frightful trip I've ever been on.

    Good job, Steve! It sounds
    Good job, Steve! It sounds like you did well. I really appreciate all the cancer info you post for us. I can't believe you are already posting after your port removal!
  • coloCan
    coloCan Member Posts: 1,944 Member
    #12
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    AnneCan said:

    Good job, Steve! It sounds
    Good job, Steve! It sounds like you did well. I really appreciate all the cancer info you post for us. I can't believe you are already posting after your port removal!

    As long as I don't lean to the left, Anne,
    physically, not politically, I'm allright but I also just took a percocet as pain is annoying,especially if I stretch left arm or left side so I try to minimize that. I should have chosen a different name for myself, such as ColoCant as in colorectal cancer can't beat me!!!!!

    I've always enjoyed reading nonfiction (majored in history with minor in sociology, BA 1973))so just as I started researching lungs when Dxed with COPD in 2000, so now I'm into learning what I can (and I'm not science-oriented)about CRC and cancer in general. I get alot of synopses of research about to be published in scholarly,scientific,medical-type journals and magazines, some of which is way to medicalese (try 7thspace.com for starters and click on the medical news section---see what I mean)but thats the way I am.

    Thanking all for taking the time to respond.......steve
  • RickMurtagh
    RickMurtagh Member Posts: 587 Member
    #13
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    Port
    I had mine removed about a month after chemotherapy ended. After two weeks or so I never gave it another thought, until today (it has been months) when the 3/4" scar itched a little. Other than that it has been a non-issue.
    What a great feeling, no?

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