Hi guys!
Thought I would give a little update.. I am now 2 days post op from my port insertion . Still pretty sore and bruised. I changed the dressing last night and was pretty shocked by the size of the cut (see below) so not surprised it's sore!
I decided that I wasn't feeling up to work so let them know I'll be back on Monday. I feel quite bad as I did say I'd be back the day after! (doctors said no to that straight away!) I know I shouldn't worry about work, but I always do. I couldn't afford to lose my job.
I was awoken by my Rheumatologists secretary calling to say that now the port is in, he's requested my notes to make an appointment to get the ball rolling. I kind of grunted being half asleep! Everytime my husband has moved the last two nights I've been wide awake on the guard in case he moves and hits my chest, so it's been a very disturbed couple of nights.. knackered!!
Its just as well I didn't go to work, as the senior sister of the Intermediate Car Team called and said she would pop by and drop off my box of supplies for the port and to go through a few things. Great, finally started to not worry about it as she knew what to do!
She came over and she was truly lovely, she had someone shadowing her too. We went through my background/health problems etc and she went through a bit about what they do. She said the port would need flushing with heparin every month if not being used so she will sort out a repeat prescription from my GP for that. They also cleaned and changed my dressing for me :)
My box of "goodies" she brought had a bunch of stuff in, all to keep here. She did get out all of the stuff to access percy port once (pic below) and said to put that in a sandwich box and carry with me as an "emergency" box. There is a lot to remember, but I'm sure it'll become second nature with time.
I will be taught how to access the port myself as apparently paramedics and some hospital nurses/doctors wouldn't feel comfortable doing it, so I need to be able to do it if needs must. They have a service from 8am-9pm so will always try to help between those hours but once I'm trained at least out of hours is covered too.
Below are a couple of pics... First is the cuts (you can't really see the port much here) and also all of the equipment I will need to access my port once
Bye for now!!
T x
Hey all!
Sorry it's been awhile since I've posted, I've had a tough few weeks with feeling awful and tired etc.
Yesterday, I finally had my port-a-cath (Percy!) fitted under GA. I got there for 12:30 feeling really nauseous, luckily I wasn't actually sick.. yet! I got admitted onto the day case until, saw the surgeon & got consented consented, saw the anaesthetist and he assured me I'd have 2 strong anti-sickness drugs and another written up for after, then it was a case of waiting.
My surgeon popped out with the port and said they'd not ordered in a thinner one for the operation and they only had this one which would stick out a little further. If I wanted a thinner one I'd have to go back when they had it in.. Which meant me and hubby taking more time off work and me having to wait longer, so I just said use that.. Obviously a bit annoyed as the lack of organisation but oh well!
I went into the theatre and then the circus act of trying to canullate me began. Of course, they had lots of goes and nothing at all! Nothing in the arms, hands or feet to use, all they were doing was causing more bruises and damage. And hey, if an anaethetist can't do it, then there isn't much hope is there?! This was further confirmation that I really did need this doing! In the end, they took the decision to gas me to sleep and then try and get a canulla in whilst I was under. So I was told to take lots of deep breaths and the next thing I was waking up groggy, in alot of pain heaving and being sick, they had got a line into my foot so they gave me more antisickness medication and some pain medicine. Heaving was causing me loads of pain, it was so much sorer than I expected anyway! Then I was told I'd probably be more bruised than most as they had some problems getting it in which is why I was in theatre for 2 hours instead of the usual 1 hour.
After a short while in recovery, I was back on the ward having a drink and managed to stomach a sandwich. I was sent down for a routine chest xray to make sure it was sitting in the right place in the Vena Cava near the heart. As it was after 5, it was the out-of-hours service so was a bit of a pain. Then the hospital systems went down so the doctors couldn't review it, i wasn't allowed home until this had been checked. At this stage hubby and kids were waiting as the nurse had said I'd be ready to go at 7pm (which I would of been had the systems not gone down) it was 8pm before the doctors finally reviewed it and I was allowed home, I was told to call the practice and district nurses first thing to find out information on how to use it, supplies etc and I was sent on my way!
I certainly didn't get a lot of sleep, it was much more painful than I expected. It feels like I was on the losing side in a boxing ring and I'd been punched really hard in the right chest, neck and arm. I had planned to go back to work today, but the doctor said I wasn't allowed to go today, and shouldn't on Friday really (but I must go back tomorrow) Hubby had to stay off to be the responsible adult and watch me, so he helped me wash my hair as can't lift my arms that high yet and my hair was matted with blood at the back where it obviously ran down during surgery.
I called the surgery this morning so that the district nurses gave me a call as the ward had said. They called back, and don't have a clue about port-a-caths, only hickman lines. I explained that this had been my worry, that no one would know how to use it and it'd of been a waste of time! I know I need to be shown and taught to use it so this won't happen and if I get admitted etc I can access it and leave the tube in for nurses to use. They didn't know where to get supplies or anything, I stressed my worry and they said they'd try to find out what to do.
I got a call back saying that an IV nurse they spoke to had 12 people on their lists with ports so she is going to give me a ring at some point today.. Here's to hoping it'll be sorted out! I just want to know how to use it and then I can't get caught out by the "oh I can't use those!" line!!
Well, I am going to go and get some rest, and hopefully a nap considering I've had little sleep! I should imagine I'm going to see lots of bruising come out in the next few days and it'll be sore for a week probably.
Bye for now..
Pic below is percy and the incision with dissolvable stitches under pressure dressing (Can't take off til tomorrow) and the tiny cut near jugular higher up with a steristrip.
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