The port has left the building! Three weeks to the day since Tom’s surgery and he is cancer free and now the port is out. Talk about progress! We headed to the hospital at 9 this morning and got Tom checked in. It’s technically day surgery so they have to get him in a gown, check his vitals, and ask the same registration questions they have asked us 1000 times. Short of my bra size and political views I think they know just about everything possible. Then we had to wait for a bit until they came and got him, wheeled him away and took him in for the removal.
It was quick and easy (Tom’s words) and he was awake the whole time. They gave him some meds to “relax” him and then used a topical numbing agent to keep the actual port area numb for the incision and pulling it out. Here’s what’s weird about that – he can feel everything happening on the inside of his body since that wasn’t numb. I say that only because the port had gotten a little too comfortable in there. Since it was surgically implanted it’s pretty deep to begin with and since it’s been in there for six months it went even deeper. They said they had to “dig” a bit to get it out (gag), and Tom could feel all the pulling and prodding (gag again). As a result, he is actually having quite a bit of pain in that area because they really had to dig around and then of course there are stitches there now. The positive side? Tom said his big incision didn’t have any pain because there was so much pain around the port. :)
They monitored him for a bit afterwards and then we were free to go. If only everything had been this easy! On our way there this morning we were talking about how strange it felt to be going to get it removed and how little we knew when we had it put in six months ago. We had no idea what we were about to do, how we were going to manage to do it, and the toll it would have on us both. His port was put in the day before his first chemo and within that same week he had five days of chemo, five nights in the hospital, throwing up, pain, a seizure in my lap that will still haunt me for the rest of my life, and I think I slept 4 hours that week. Today? Quick and easy and our only appointment of the week! Plus, today’s removal was symbolic of the end of this journey versus the beginning – thank goodness.
Speaking of the end, we are planning on having a big ‘ol “Tom Beat Cancer” Party! All will be invited, but we are thinking we won’t have it until early summer for a few reasons. First, we want Tom to be feeling better where he has a little more strength for a party. Second, for some of our non-local friends and family who may take a trip it’s a better city to visit in the summer. And lastly, you can never trust the weather in the Midwest so we want to hedge our bets a bit on that one. More to come…
It was quick and easy (Tom’s words) and he was awake the whole time. They gave him some meds to “relax” him and then used a topical numbing agent to keep the actual port area numb for the incision and pulling it out. Here’s what’s weird about that – he can feel everything happening on the inside of his body since that wasn’t numb. I say that only because the port had gotten a little too comfortable in there. Since it was surgically implanted it’s pretty deep to begin with and since it’s been in there for six months it went even deeper. They said they had to “dig” a bit to get it out (gag), and Tom could feel all the pulling and prodding (gag again). As a result, he is actually having quite a bit of pain in that area because they really had to dig around and then of course there are stitches there now. The positive side? Tom said his big incision didn’t have any pain because there was so much pain around the port. :)
They monitored him for a bit afterwards and then we were free to go. If only everything had been this easy! On our way there this morning we were talking about how strange it felt to be going to get it removed and how little we knew when we had it put in six months ago. We had no idea what we were about to do, how we were going to manage to do it, and the toll it would have on us both. His port was put in the day before his first chemo and within that same week he had five days of chemo, five nights in the hospital, throwing up, pain, a seizure in my lap that will still haunt me for the rest of my life, and I think I slept 4 hours that week. Today? Quick and easy and our only appointment of the week! Plus, today’s removal was symbolic of the end of this journey versus the beginning – thank goodness.
Speaking of the end, we are planning on having a big ‘ol “Tom Beat Cancer” Party! All will be invited, but we are thinking we won’t have it until early summer for a few reasons. First, we want Tom to be feeling better where he has a little more strength for a party. Second, for some of our non-local friends and family who may take a trip it’s a better city to visit in the summer. And lastly, you can never trust the weather in the Midwest so we want to hedge our bets a bit on that one. More to come…