I hate this port

canjuncutie
canjuncutie Member Posts: 131
edited March 2014 in Breast Cancer #1
The docs dont listen they can get blood from it it working fine they dont care. I cant deal with this any more the pain is to much. I want my life back

Comments

  • roseann4
    roseann4 Member Posts: 992 Member
    So sorry.
    I didn't have a port but my advise is to go to your primary care doctor and get him/her involved. Sometimes when one doctor speaks to another you will get more action. I haven't heard anyone else say they were in pain. Hopefully, another sister who had a port can be of help.

    Roseann
  • disneyfan2008
    disneyfan2008 Member Posts: 6,583 Member
    I too have not experienced this
    but I am thinking of you...so sorry you have to go through this!
  • Jean 0609
    Jean 0609 Member Posts: 2,462
    Sorry you are having so much pain with your port
    You really need to talk to your doctor about the pain. I still have my port because I have to have my herceptin treatments until June. Luckily I dont' have any pain with it. The only time mine is accessed is when I have my treatment. If I have to have blood work for anything else they won't access it. When I had my last surgery on December 1st, they wouldn't access it either. I was not happy!

    Sending positive thoughts & a prayer your way. Hopefully, things will get better for you soon, sister.

    xoxo,
    Jean
  • Sher43009
    Sher43009 Member Posts: 602 Member
    Jean 0609 said:

    Sorry you are having so much pain with your port
    You really need to talk to your doctor about the pain. I still have my port because I have to have my herceptin treatments until June. Luckily I dont' have any pain with it. The only time mine is accessed is when I have my treatment. If I have to have blood work for anything else they won't access it. When I had my last surgery on December 1st, they wouldn't access it either. I was not happy!

    Sending positive thoughts & a prayer your way. Hopefully, things will get better for you soon, sister.

    xoxo,
    Jean

    Port
    I've had mine since Aug. 09. It's coming out next week! It was used everytime I needed blood drawn. It helps if you drink extra water before a blood draw and use a knumbing cream 2 hours before it's used. It does hurt if you don't knumb it up first. (I've forgotten to use it a few times). Gotta love the chemo brain! lol. There are time if I move wrong or lift something too heavy that I feel a pull, but not pain. You should contact your oncol., pc, or surgeon to have it checked out.

    Hope you feel better soon
    Sher
  • VickiSam
    VickiSam Member Posts: 9,079 Member
    Sher43009 said:

    Port
    I've had mine since Aug. 09. It's coming out next week! It was used everytime I needed blood drawn. It helps if you drink extra water before a blood draw and use a knumbing cream 2 hours before it's used. It does hurt if you don't knumb it up first. (I've forgotten to use it a few times). Gotta love the chemo brain! lol. There are time if I move wrong or lift something too heavy that I feel a pull, but not pain. You should contact your oncol., pc, or surgeon to have it checked out.

    Hope you feel better soon
    Sher

    I also Hated my port with pure passion .. HOWEVER,
    ports are necessary for our fight with breast cancer ... chemo therapy infusions, blood draws ..

    As it was once stated to me -- about 25 years ago .. Don't cut off your nose, to spite your face.

    Vent away to your doctors ... and ask them for cream or somethng to alleviate the pain -- nothing really helped me .. so I suffered thru 14 months of port.


    Good luck ...

    Vicki Sam
  • Rague
    Rague Member Posts: 3,653 Member
    We're all so different!
    I've never had my port acessed for blood draws or anything else except for infusions and 1 CT scan (now that time was a PAIN - they had no numbing spray). (I do get it flushed every 4 weeks and have for 11 months.) I like it that way - much quicker and easier to just stick vein, draw and put a wrap around than to put on numbing cream before I go, flush, draw, and re-establish. Not all 'blood tech's' can legally access a port - at least according to what I've been told have to be at least an RN or MD.

    My port's been in since Aug 25, '09 and there are no plans to take it out. No I didn't have to have herceptin but I am IBC and my Drs (me too) think it makes more sense to keep just in case rather than have to reimplant if needed. The only 'pain' I've had with it was a few days after implant I reached up and did something that was too soon to do - my bad - but it was only for a second or 2.

    We're all so different!

    Susan
  • canjuncutie
    canjuncutie Member Posts: 131
    Rague said:

    We're all so different!
    I've never had my port acessed for blood draws or anything else except for infusions and 1 CT scan (now that time was a PAIN - they had no numbing spray). (I do get it flushed every 4 weeks and have for 11 months.) I like it that way - much quicker and easier to just stick vein, draw and put a wrap around than to put on numbing cream before I go, flush, draw, and re-establish. Not all 'blood tech's' can legally access a port - at least according to what I've been told have to be at least an RN or MD.

    My port's been in since Aug 25, '09 and there are no plans to take it out. No I didn't have to have herceptin but I am IBC and my Drs (me too) think it makes more sense to keep just in case rather than have to reimplant if needed. The only 'pain' I've had with it was a few days after implant I reached up and did something that was too soon to do - my bad - but it was only for a second or 2.

    We're all so different!

    Susan

    I had a port o gram
    I yell at my onco this morn got a appt at 130pm to see the nurses explained I woke up at 4am in pain in my neck. i went to a different hospital then who put it in they found I had a kink in it for 4 months they fixed it i hope it holds I did not make it home until 5pm tonight. Now I can turn my headcan eat better now but looking at getting an mri of my neck it swollen
  • canjuncutie
    canjuncutie Member Posts: 131
    VickiSam said:

    I also Hated my port with pure passion .. HOWEVER,
    ports are necessary for our fight with breast cancer ... chemo therapy infusions, blood draws ..

    As it was once stated to me -- about 25 years ago .. Don't cut off your nose, to spite your face.

    Vent away to your doctors ... and ask them for cream or somethng to alleviate the pain -- nothing really helped me .. so I suffered thru 14 months of port.


    Good luck ...

    Vicki Sam

    I have been
    they figure blood came out it was working fine it was not 4 monthes of hell they want a yr more i dont think so
  • canjuncutie
    canjuncutie Member Posts: 131
    VickiSam said:

    I also Hated my port with pure passion .. HOWEVER,
    ports are necessary for our fight with breast cancer ... chemo therapy infusions, blood draws ..

    As it was once stated to me -- about 25 years ago .. Don't cut off your nose, to spite your face.

    Vent away to your doctors ... and ask them for cream or somethng to alleviate the pain -- nothing really helped me .. so I suffered thru 14 months of port.


    Good luck ...

    Vicki Sam

    I have been
    they figure blood came out it was working fine it was not 4 monthes of hell they want a yr more i dont think so
  • Sher43009
    Sher43009 Member Posts: 602 Member

    I had a port o gram
    I yell at my onco this morn got a appt at 130pm to see the nurses explained I woke up at 4am in pain in my neck. i went to a different hospital then who put it in they found I had a kink in it for 4 months they fixed it i hope it holds I did not make it home until 5pm tonight. Now I can turn my headcan eat better now but looking at getting an mri of my neck it swollen

    Ouch!
    I'm glad you got an answer to your pain. I hope your port stays where it belongs and doesn't hurt you anymore.
  • Bella Luna
    Bella Luna Member Posts: 1,578 Member
    Yes, please talk with your
    Yes, please talk with your doctors about the pain. I had a port and used it for a year while on Herceptin. I did not experience any pain with infusions, slight sting when needle went into the port-short lived.

    I wish you well with your infusions.
    BL
  • Texasgirl10
    Texasgirl10 Member Posts: 668

    Yes, please talk with your
    Yes, please talk with your doctors about the pain. I had a port and used it for a year while on Herceptin. I did not experience any pain with infusions, slight sting when needle went into the port-short lived.

    I wish you well with your infusions.
    BL

    I hear you
    I totally understand about hating the port. ( I call mine my "portal to life lol) I've only had mine for about 4 weeks, and it's not as tender as it was but it does still bother me at times. It itches a lot and I can feel the wires, it drives me nuts. I haven't had any pain when they draw blood or do chemo, but they give me an ice bag to put on my chest prior to sticking me. It does seem to help. Good luck, I hope it gets better for you.
  • Kat11
    Kat11 Member Posts: 1,931 Member

    I hear you
    I totally understand about hating the port. ( I call mine my "portal to life lol) I've only had mine for about 4 weeks, and it's not as tender as it was but it does still bother me at times. It itches a lot and I can feel the wires, it drives me nuts. I haven't had any pain when they draw blood or do chemo, but they give me an ice bag to put on my chest prior to sticking me. It does seem to help. Good luck, I hope it gets better for you.

    I had a port for over a year
    I had a port for over a year with also having to do Herceptin treatment. Now I also had discomfort at times with the port and could also feel the tube/wires in neck. Now there is some pain when they access the port, but it does pass, I don't think it's to normal to have a lot of pain. I would talk with another doctor about this. I know evryone is different, but most of us deal with the port all the way through treatment so maybe something is wrong with it. Worth checking out.
  • Annette 11
    Annette 11 Member Posts: 380
    Port problems
    My port worked well for me although the skin always feels tight and I can't sleep on that side. I did something to it this week-end...it was irritated and pinching me but I think it's feeling alittle better now.
    How long has your port been in? why won't they take blood from it? Talk to your doc. about this. I do get a burning when they draw blood. But it doesn't last.
    Annette
  • rene9
    rene9 Member Posts: 214

    Port problems
    My port worked well for me although the skin always feels tight and I can't sleep on that side. I did something to it this week-end...it was irritated and pinching me but I think it's feeling alittle better now.
    How long has your port been in? why won't they take blood from it? Talk to your doc. about this. I do get a burning when they draw blood. But it doesn't last.
    Annette

    I feel ya!
    I got my port Jan. last year and I hated it too! It was removed last month when I had my reconstruction surgery and I am soooo happy!


    rene9