Chemo Port

I had my port placement done yesterday. Arrived at El Camino Hospital at 9:30. Surgery was supposed to be at 11:30 but didn't happen till 1:00 or later. The procedure was done by Dr. Fabio Komlos, an interventional radiologist at PAMF.

The IV was inserted around 10:40. It hurt for hours! The catheter was near my wrist. First the nurse tried a warm blanket around my arm to relieve the pain, but it didn't help. The ice pack was a little better, but it kept hurting until I got up to use the restroom. The pain went away for a while. When it came back, it didn't hurt as badly as before and was intermittent.

While waiting for the surgery, I had a long chat with one of the nurses. I thought I would have two incisions, but the nurse said the doctor does only one incision. The nurse gave the procedure a name -- the Fabio Maneuver. When Dr. Fabio Komlos came in briefly before the surgery and explained what he would do, I asked about the incision. The nurse piped up, "What's it called?" I answered, "The Fabio Maneuver." Laughter ensued.

I assume I was out during the procedure but felt brief pain twice, presumably when I got a numbing shot in my chest and when the doctor made the incision. They gave me oxygen and placed a sheet over my head. I didn't hear anyone talking, and when they removed the sheet after the procedure, there were only two people left in the room.

I had to stay in the OR for a while waiting for a recovery room. When the incision started to hurt, they gave me Tylenol. As they were about to wheel me out, the radiologist stopped by briefly, presumably to check on me, but all I remember him asking was, "Are you really 60?" 😄

When they wheeled me to the recovery room, I think I got motion sickness. They had given me 4 mg Zofran before the procedure and had to give me another 4 mg. The nausea was mild, but I didn't feel completely better till about two hours later. The Tylenol also didn't help with the pain, and they gave me 15 mg Toradol IV, an anti-inflammatory equivalent to 600 mg Advil. That helped.

I didn't get home till 5pm. It was a long day. My friend Sindhu dropped me off at the hospital and picked me up later. She made soup and brought spaghetti (it was so good) and stayed overnight with me. We played a board game, and I won twice, a rarity with Sindhu. I was in bed by 10pm, another rarity.

This morning I took Advil, but the incision started to hurt, so I also took Tylenol also. Even though the port should be lightweight, I feel its weight whenever I get up from bed. I suppose I'll get used to it.

They used glue over the incision. I should be able to take a shower. My discharge paper says no heavy lifting (>10 lbs) for two weeks.