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Does port hurt

ppurdin
ppurdin CSN Member Posts: 1,181 Member
in Breast Cancer #1

i have been told I may need a port.Does this hurt.Is it out patient surgery.Is it very big.Any imput is appriatted.thank you

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Comments

  • camul
    camul CSN Member Posts: 2,537
    edited June 2016 #2
    it hurts, but only for a couple of days.

    The easiest procedure I have had.  It was the best thing ever.  I have had it for almost 6years.  I was down to using my feet and ankles.  Now it is a little poke and iv is in.  It was outpatient.  Went in am, started aniv, did a 2 hr drip of antibiotics, the actual procedure was just about 30 minutes, then it was about an hour or so in recovery, then I went home.  Had my first infusion with it the next day.  I was so scared.

    Had I have known, I would have had it with my first round of cancer.  By the time I had it, I was blowing veins just getting blood draws and had so much scar tissue in the veins that it took 5-6 pokes and dragging  the needle just to draw blood.  One of the nurses talked to me about a port, just prior to my stage iv dx.  I had 4 major surgeries and an intestinal blockage and they were using my foot.  She explained the benefits, when I was dx'd stage iv shortly after, the first thing I said was when do I get my port.  

    I love it.

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  • awsmGirl
    awsmGirl CSN Member Posts: 38
    #3
    easy peasy!

    the install is a simple quick-recovery surgery -- i had no pain, and they started me on my Chemo 2 days later.  Been only 2weeks for me, but i think it's a great tool!

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  • Clementine_P
    Clementine_P CSN Member Posts: 518 Member
    #4
    Piece of cake

    I agree with everyone.  It was quick, easy and painless.  It is not very big, I would say about the size of a nickel but really made everything so easy.  I hope you have the same experience as I did.

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  • peony
    peony CSN Member Posts: 306 Member
    edited June 2016 #5
    No big deal

    I was sore for a couple of days, but nothing major.  The hard part for me was when I had it removed and had to hear the surgeon and nurses tell all these jokes about being "deported" and "exported".

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  • Puffin2014
    Puffin2014 CSN Member Posts: 531 Member
    edited June 2016 #6
    numbing cream

    Make sure you get a prescription for the numbing cream for your port, it works great. You put a glob of cream on the skin over the port about 1 - 1 1/2 hours before they're going to poke the needle into the port to access it, tape a small square of plastic wrap over the glob to keep it in place and to protect your clothes. I never had a painful poke and I know many ladies who did without the cream.

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  • desertgirl947
    desertgirl947 CSN Member Posts: 653 Member
    #7
    My port was put in at the

    My port was put in at the hospital.  I was in and out in about three hours . . . preliminaries, insertion, wake up, quick x-ray to check to see if things looked good, let go.

    I can't say it was all that painful after the numbness wore off.  That may be because I was only about a month into healing from my surgery, and so compared to that, insertion of the port was nothing.

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