Someone explain this pump thing I am going to have to have

BanjoBob said:

I finished my treatments a

I finished my treatments a year ago. I just joined this group today after doing a search regarding "Port Flushing".

I was diagnosed with  a Squamous Cell stage 2 Anal Cancer.

I had the port put in at a Hospital and  they put me out. I wore the pump for 95 hours twice and although it was inconvenient, it wasn't painful, but whatever chemo they gave me was designed to kill all fast growing tissue, which  includes the tissue inside the mouth.

My tongue got sore, almost raw, but they gave me a prescription for what they called "Magic Mouthwash" that numbed my mouth to minimize suffering.

I received radiation 5 days a week for 6 weeks, 30 treatments total.

I smoke a pipe, so each time I got the chemo pump, my mouth  got so sore I couldn't smoke  for 2 weeks.

I had an Anal Cancer so they said my smoking didn't cause it, but having the radiation treatments there made me uh ... raw in the working areas making using the bathroom terribly painful, and shortly after getting the pump the  first time I also had difficulty urinating, but they had a solution for every problem, they gave  me Flomax so I could Pee easily, and gave me hydrocortisone cream 2 1/2% for my painful areas and it lessened the pain enough  that my suffering was minimized. They encouraged me to eat and drink a lot, but the last thing I wanted to do was increase frequency of bathroom visits, so I did it MY way and lost 10  pounds in a week, but gained it back the following week after spending a fortune on donuts and those fancy though pricey meals from the natural health foods store. Nothing tasted good, but I could tolerate those foods.

It wasn't too bad, I could do it again.

I just had my 1 year ct scan  and everything still looks good with no new cancers.

After doing allof this the Cancer Center discussed having my Port removed, and  asked if I was having it flushed every 3 Months ... Huh?

Nobody had mentioned this before, and it hasn't been flushed for a year.

I'll probably just have it removed in December or January.

I'm 68 and I've been retired for 7 years. I'm  glad I didn't have to go anywhere whille enduring this.

David

your diagnosis is same as mine, got port in wednesday and awaiting start of chemo and radiation on Monday.  Very nervous and anxious to get this going.  Hope all is still well with you!