Port or No Port

After not having to have an IV for over two years, I had one a few months ago for a PET scan. It game me a new appreciation for my port. 

What is a port you ask? A medical port catheter is a lovely device made out of plastic. It is inserted under the skin (just under my collarbone), and has a tube that goes up into the vein at the base of my neck. At the base of the tube (the part that's just under my collarbone) is the round plastic part, about 1/2 inch in diameter. A special needle is put into the round plastic part of the port and not into a vein itself. This needle has tubing coming from to in order to draw blood or hook the port up to other tubing. Accessing the port is a sterile procedure, so that means sterile gloves, cleaning the area well, and masks for the nurse and the patient. 

Pros to having a Port:

• Once the port in inserted, IVs are no longer necessary.
• It is not painful to access the port. A brief moment of a sharp inhale, and it's over.
• The port can stay accessed to have blood drawn, tubes hooked up for medicine, hydration, etc. without any bumping or pain of the needle.
• Blood return is easy and fast
• Chemotherapies tend to damage veins, so finding a vein for an IV can be difficult and painful for those undergoing chemotherapy. The port alleviates this challenge.

Cons of having a Port:

• It is surgically inserted
• It has to be flushed every month, so if someone is not receiving regular blood draws or treatment, they need to get it flushed every four weeks.
• There is a bump sticking out of my chest
• For some people accessing the port is painful, so medical professionals can provide a numbing cream to apply an hour prior to accessing that alleviates the pain.

I was running late for a PET scan a few months ago, and accessing the port can take 20 minutes (15 minutes to wait for an available nurse and 5 to access the port), so I opted to just have an IV. The IV was placed into my arm at the crook of my elbow. That meant not bending or moving my arm for two hours. I could feel the needle in my vein the entire time, and my hand went off and on being numb. Plus, it hurt for about 45 minutes.

Thus, my new appreciation for a port. I forget it's accessed and just go about my regular movements. When it was first inserted I was skeptical, but I'm a believer now. 

So, hurrah for ports!