What is a Mediport?
directly into the venous system and can be easily accessed from the outside without inserting a needle into a vein. I like to compare it to a USB Port. I needed a Mediport to receive chemotherapy treatments through, but it can be used for anything that you would normally use a needle or IV for. If I get sick again and end up in the hospital, the nurses won't have to install an IV into my hand, they will be able to administer blood, fluid, and medicines through my Mediport.
Since the Mediport is installed under the skin, it was scheduled as another surgery at ECMC. I had to fast after midnight and be at the hospital by 6. It took awhile to get checked in and brought back but once I was all set, around 7, I was just hanging in my trendy hospital gown until Dr Lindfield arrived to do the surgery. This surgery was no sweat. They were going to cut an incision in my chest, right below my collarbone, install the Mediport, fish the catheter into precisely the right place near my heart, and then sew me back up again. I was told it would be about an hour under anesthetic and the recovery would just be a dull soreness for a few days. I was scheduled to see Dr Burke later that day downstairs in his offices which are also at ECMC so he could take out the stitches in my chest. Since Dr Lindfield was already there, I asked her to take out the stitches while she has me under.
Surgery Time
About 8:00 Dr Lindfield arrived at the hospital, along with every other doctor scheduled for the OR that day, so as soon as a room was available, we were ready to go. I don't recall the bed ride from the pre-op room to the operating room this time. Before we went, the anesthesiologist gave me a shot of something. It didn't knock me out but it did make me focus on stupid things and talk about them incessantly... like the one doctor who looked to be in her 50's and was walking around with a white blouse and a black bra on under it. For some reason I couldn't stop talking about this, although I don't remember what I said. Maybe this is why I don't remember the ride to the operating room. I just remember waking up.
Post-Op Ramblings
When I woke up from surgery, I remember a nurse staring at me and saying "Good, your eyes are open. I'll go get your husband". So I figured I had just woken up. Then when Rory came back to sit with me, he told me the nurse said I was a chatty cathy when I first came out. Before surgery I commented on how much the nurse looked like one of my old friends, Michelle. Apparently when I came out of surgery, I was convinced she WAS my old friend Michelle and she was very eager for me to come to completely to so she could get away and make me Rory's problem. Whoops. I wonder what I said? That's a conversation I wish I heard!Rory advised me that when Dr Lindfield went to remove the chest stitches, the skin opened right back up again, so she had to restitch me all up and I would have to come back at another time for Dr. Burke to remove the second set of stitches. This didn't bother me so much because I was in no hurry to show off my flat chest to anyone. Those stitches could stay forever for all I care... except they kept poking through all my shirt. The last time I had stitches it was a thin clear string that dissolved on its own. This stuff was quite different. It was thick, blue, and wire-like. If it was fishing line, it would be 100 pound test that you caught walleye with! And it was sharp on the edges and poked through every shirt and nightgown I owned. This part was a bummer.
Dr. Lindfield said the Mediport installation went fine and I could start using it for treatments immediately. My first chemo treatment was scheduled for one week so I would be good to go!
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| My Mediport in my left shoulder |
Recovering from Surgery
The Mediport surgery was supposedly the easiest, shortest surgery I had had yet. I got there at 6 am and I was home by 10:30 am. Everything I ate still made me nauseous so I on our way home from the hospital, I gave my husband those puppy dog eyes and asked for McDonald's... the only food that my stomach welcomed. One cheeseburger extra pickle and one small fry... and I was good for the day!
I was expecting to start work 2 days after having my Mediport installed. That was not in the cards. When I had my first 2 mastectomies I found that even though overall I was sore, the incision sites were all numb for the past 2 weeks. Apparently the numbness wore off. I started to feel every single hole in my chest. I could feel the skin stretching from the new stitches. I was starting to feel pectoral pain... as I was going out more, I had to open doors, push grocery carts, and carry my purse. It felt like most of my chest muscles were gone. I would struggle to open the door for myself at Kohl's. Yes, I realize how pathetic that is. When I would force it, I would feel the skin pulling across my chest.
What's worse, I could feel the Mediport. If you have ever been punched in the collarbone this is what it felt like. The doctor told me it would be a dull achy pain for a few days. This was dull but it built up. It was too strong to ignore. It was the kind of pain that didn't get acute, but it didn't dull either. And there was nothing you could do about it. You just want to sit there and cry because there is nothing else you can do. What I learned is that it doesn't go away after a day or two. I am sure it will go away eventually. I am on my 6th day with the Mediport now and the pain has not lessened. I wonder if it was installed incorrectly? Or maybe my threshold for pain is much lower than I always thought it was. Maybe my threshold for pain is being slowly worn down. Either way, if it is me, I am going to be in trouble on April 2nd when I go for my first chemo treatment. The thought of them tapping anything to my port terrifies me.
Not So Smooth Sailing
The Friday before having my Mediport installed I was cleared to drive. I took Friday afternoon and went to my doctors appointments, treated myself to lunch, and went to Kohls to spend my Kohls Cash. Halfway through my outing, I started to get a stiff neck and struggled to move it side to side... so I headed home. The rest of the day I had a hot pad on my neck. I figured I pulled my neck while trying to open the door to Kohls... I did struggle to get it open. Stiff necks go away. When I woke up Saturday it was worse. It wasn't stiff so much, but there was pressure. It was as if there was a bolt in the back of my skull drilled through the bones behind my ears. And there was a level on that bolt, and as soon as the air bubble on that level was not level, I would feel intense pain, pressure, and dizziness. So I couldn't look down, if I bent down, I had to keep my head perpendicular to the ground. This didn't go away at all on Saturday. It didn't go away on Sunday even after an emergency chiropractor appointment. I saw my Grandmother on Monday, who also knows chiropractic, and she 'fixed it' as well. It didn't go away Tuesday or Wednesday. I saw a massage therapist Thursday who helped it for a little while, but come Friday it was back. It is much less acute than it was a week ago, but it is still debilitating.
The increased chest pain, Mediport pain, plus head pressure made it nearly impossible to go to work. Any road trips I took had to be limited to 3 hours or less because I was becoming more dependent on pain medication. I am truly perplexed as to why my recovery has gotten worse and not better over the past 3 weeks.
Preparing to Return to Work
I have given myself a firm 'return to work' date of Monday April 1st. This is necessary because I am out of money. We have always been a week-to-week type of household. This has always served us well, until I got cancer. Week-to-week is a death sentence for the rest of your family when you have cancer. I HAVE to go back to work. NYS disability will pay you half of your normal weekly wages, not to exceed $175. Nobody can live on $175 a week. $175 a week will not cover my copays for the week, let alone food, bills, mortgage, my kid's dance lessons, lunches for the kids, plus the mounting medical bills. NYS disability is a joke.
Here I type, the night before I return to work, terrified. I am scared that I am not going to be able to focus with all the pain killers in me. I am afraid I am going to start crying at work because I am still in so much pain. I am scared that I will go back to work for a day, then start chemo and be too sick to return back to work. Luckily my employer is very flexible and has allowed me to work from home as needed. This is my only hope and the only reason I am able to muster up the confidence to go to work tomorrow.
For the first time since I got my cancer diagnosis, I am scared.
It's 2014 and I've just read your blog. I really hope it got better. Did the mediport pain ever subside?
ReplyDeleteIt's 2020. I would love to hear how you are doing.
ReplyDelete