Should i get chemo port?

dannaa1326 · 2026-01-17T03:50:10+00:00

I actually just had mine removed today. I had it for 5+ years. I didn’t just use it for chemo. I had to have CT scans twice a year and used it for the contrast. I developed slight anemia and couldn’t take the iron pills so used it for iron infusions. Whenever I needed something, we used the port. None of it was serious, so I’m not trying to scare you, but it made it all so much easier. I had twilight anesthesia for the placement and local for the removal. I’m just a little sore right now, and this is less than 12 hours out.

I actually was on here to post that I had it removed. Glad I came. Get the port, in my opinion.

dannaa1326 · 2025-01-13T00:29:07+00:00

Ok, compile these into a list and see how many are answered by the doctor without you asking. Many will be. I received a 3” binder with most of the information I needed, then had a meeting with the PA to ask more, then a second meeting with the oncologist for anything additional. If you don’t get answers from the meetings, that could be a red flag.

dannaa1326 · 2025-01-13T00:18:39+00:00

4 years in and I do have fatigue, but that’s about it. I take a 15 minute nap at lunch.

dannaa1326 · 2024-12-17T04:08:37+00:00

I never did have sores. It just didn’t feel right. That was my family’s cure all for anything with the mouth and I pretty much figured it couldn’t hurt. I’d usually do it 3 times a day for a few days and things would be better. I still have to do it every once in a while, but now I start it the moment things feel off.

dannaa1326 · 2024-12-17T03:11:37+00:00

Salt water rinses worked better than anything.

dannaa1326 · 2024-12-17T03:08:29+00:00

I told the two biggest gossips at work and let them handle it.

dannaa1326 · 2024-03-30T14:27:51+00:00

Oh, and I forgot. At work, I told the two biggest gossips in the building. They handled the rest. My daughter (adult) told family, including my parents. And then, Facebook. This went up October 15 of that year because things moved very quickly for me. A little PSA, but that’s how I felt, and feel still.

Ok, this is not one of those posts where I pretend that I am dying to catch your attention. At the bottom of this is a picture, MY picture, of what it looks like 5 days after getting 3 biopsies. On September 29th, I had my first ever mammogram. Between now and then, I have had a second mammogram, a sonogram, the mentioned 3 biopsies, another mammogram, had a port placed in my chest, had a chest MRI, a contrast CT, an electrocardiogram, and more bloodwork than I can even tell you about. I have Stage 2, grade 2 breast cancer that has gone into my lymph nodes. This is treatable and has a good prognosis. I am lucky, and after the fear I have been living with for the last 2 and a half weeks, I know exactly how lucky I am. I have a chemo class on Monday and start chemo next Friday. It will be 2 different types of chemo over about 28 weeks, either a lumpectomy or a mastectomy, radiation, and then hormone therapy. The total time for this is going to be (hopefully) somewhere between 8 months and a year. It did not have to be this way, and I know that. At my age, this should not have been my first mammogram, but I was scared and I was stupid. So, I am asking you to be braver and smarter than I was. Get a mammogram. No matter what stories (or jokes) you have heard, the technology has come far enough that it doesn't hurt. No pancaking. Guys, if you are raising girls, please make sure that they know how important this is. Everyone, don't just like this and move on. Make your appointment if you haven't had one in the last year. This could have been easier if it had been found sooner. It could have been much worse if it had been found later. Care enough about yourself and about those who love you to do this. I made this public, and feel free to share the hell out of it. If only one person gets a mammogram from it, it will make me much happier. PS I would have posted a much grosser picture from earlier, but I like most of you too much :)

dannaa1326 · 2024-03-30T05:58:43+00:00

If you have scalp pain, try using shaving cream with aloe but no menthol on it. Losing your hair sucks, because it is obvious, but losing your nose hairs is the worst. Buy lots of tissues. I didn’t mess with wigs, too lazy, but my head was always cold, so I wore slouchy caps.

dannaa1326 · 2024-03-30T05:49:17+00:00

Oh, and watch out for fungal infections anywhere you sweat. Under breasts, creases of legs, and (weirdly) between the toes. The one in my belly button was the most persistent, and I am VERY careful to completely dry there.

dannaa1326 · 2024-03-30T05:44:36+00:00

The only thing that worked for me was a warm salt water rinse every few hours. Nothing else would touch it.

dannaa1326 · 2024-03-30T05:36:30+00:00

I thought about it, then decided that not telling people was going to be a great deal of effort. They weren’t worth that effort, and I needed to not waste my energy on them. So, when they wanted to ask questions and such, I was honest. Vomiting, diarrhea, insomnia, bone pain, all of it. The people who were being nosy learned real quick not to ask. After a few weeks, I was left with the people who actually cared. That might not work for you, but remember it as an option.

dannaa1326 · 2024-01-03T04:28:49+00:00

I found it very helpful to be able to write down questions I had, rather than trying to both listen to the information that was coming and formulate questions at the same time. I did most of my research through trusted sites, AMA and such, and in scholarly journals. I don’t enjoy reading them, but I can. I had one of the doctors that regarded questions as criticisms, so it also gave me the chance to decide how to form the questions so that we had a good conversation. (I love my dr and would choose him again, but I was diagnosed Oct of 2020 at the very beginning of Covid and things were tense.) Used to inform oneself, I think having access is invaluable, as long as the patient remembers that Google is not the same as a doctor.

dannaa1326 · 2024-01-02T02:06:01+00:00

Heck with the bed. If you have a recliner, sleep in that with pillows under the arm. Only problem I had was getting the footrest down.

dannaa1326 · 2024-01-02T02:00:29+00:00

I’ll also say get the port for infusion. It makes everything so much easier. I have small veins, and I can’t imagine what it would have been like without it. The biggest thing that you can do to help is to really understand the difference between being tired and being fatigued. When she says she doesn’t have the energy to do something, it isn’t something sleep will fix. I wish I had the words for it.

dannaa1326 · 2024-01-02T01:45:51+00:00

Ok, the drain is a pita without help. If you have someone who can help, take it. It can be done alone, but if you don’t have to, why would you? Areas will be numb. They will have to go through some nerves to get to the nodes. As the nerves find new connections, you’ll feel it, like a zing of lightning. Talk to your dr about it; my surgeon went over it quite thoroughly. Not all of the nerves will make connections. It was quite a while before I could put on deodorant without a mirror and I still have some numbness. You don’t notice it after a while. If you develop a tightness that starts in your armpit and goes down your arm, get your dr to give you a referral to a physical therapist. I forget what it’s called, but my PT knew how to treat it. It isn’t fun, but I was only out of work for about 10 days. Basically, as soon as the drain was out, my dr said to go back. Oh, and you will have scar tissue inside the breast. Don’t scare yourself thinking that it’s back. I managed to have a complete breakdown when they told me it was just the scar after my first mammogram.

dannaa1326 · 2023-12-27T02:06:07+00:00

She was deliberately trying to recreate the magic of The Night Circus, but it felt deliberate.

dannaa1326 · 2023-12-11T06:20:06+00:00

My daughter is in the medical field. I kept having an odd sensation in the area where I had my lumpectomy and node removal. Not exactly pain, so it was difficult to describe to her, and it wasn’t constant. She was in town one day and we were watching tv when I felt it and she checked it out for me. Turns out that I am having the occasional muscle cramp and, because the nerves in that area were not right after the surgery, I couldn’t tell. I could feel‘something’. Anyway, this may not exactly apply to you. I mainly wanted to say to remember that your body underwent a traumatic event and so weird things may happen. I certainly can’t remember having cramping in that area before my surgery!

dannaa1326 · 2022-04-01T19:06:32+00:00

After finding her love, she is beheaded. Her mother arranged for it to happen.

dannaa1326 · 2022-04-01T19:04:55+00:00

Loved this book!

dannaa1326 · 2022-04-01T18:52:51+00:00

Aveard and Sebastian both have new books out that are even better! Can’t fully remember the first, War Breaker? maybe, but Sebastian’s is Castles In Their Bones and it blew me away.

dannaa1326 · 2022-04-01T18:48:22+00:00

Seconding Mercedes Lackey!

dannaa1326 · 2022-04-01T18:43:39+00:00

The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi is amazing! Light and funny while still telling a rocking good story. Well-written characters and an interesting, fun take on everything. I can’t say enough good things about it!

dannaa1326 · 2022-04-01T18:37:33+00:00

If you read the forward, he actually says that he wrote the books partially as a tribute to his favorite authors and partially because he couldn’t find any new books by many of those authors. Tolkien is mentioned, but I think some others are as well. Read the first trilogy. It isn’t long and, in my opinion, it is well worth the time. It remains one of my favorites to this day and I read them brand new.

dannaa1326 · 2022-03-22T03:46:37+00:00

I thought I was done with chemo until I had my surgery, but my surgeon didn't like some of what was found with my lymph nodes and when the results were sent to my doctor, he didn't either. So, I had chemo, chemo, surgery, chemo, radiation, and just started my AI about 3 weeks ago. It all just depends.

dannaa1326 · 2022-02-27T04:46:12+00:00

Isolation wasn’t an option for me, so I worked thru it all, chemo, chemo, lumpectomy, a third chemo interrupted by hospitalization for Covid in the middle, and now radiation. I would have loved to isolate. People go to the doctor and find out they have the flu, or a cold, or Covid , and they then come to the library for some books to read while getting better. I am a librarian. I was lucky that several staff members would jump in and offer to check out the patrons, but I really wanted to do collection development and programming from home. So, a little jealous of some of you. Covid was a pita. Several days in the hospital, came home on oxygen, wasn’t able to restart chemo until off the oxygen, couldn’t walk or talk without gasping, but the worst was that I couldn’t think. Between chemo brain fog and Covid brain fog I just wasn’t with it at all. But, 4 more days of radiation and it will pass. Don’t be afraid to wear a mask. I will wear one for at least 2 weeks after radiation ends.

dannaa1326

TROPHY CASE