Port Removal

[Liz13]

I was just wondering what was involved with the port removal? Do they go in the same scar? Hospital stay or out patient? Pain? Recovery? Dangers? Thanks for any info. Hugs, Liz

[RandyW]

Wish i could help on this one but Can't Deb had hers until the end. Hope you get some answers. If not you may want to try doing a search of Port-a-Cath removal. just a thought though. Good Luck and a little Bump up.

[trish2418]

I haven't used my port for chemo in over a year (I do have it flushed every 8 weeks). I'm superstitious about having it removed -- you know, if you have an umbrella with you it will not rain kind of logic or illogic. Are you thinking of having your's removed?

Trish

[mary colleen]

Liz,

My husband has his port removed recently. It was a quick and easy outpatient procedure with absolutely no after effects. I think it was about 3 hours from leaving home to getting back home.

[Liz13]

Thanks, Mary Colleen, I was hoping for that. No Trish, I'm not. I still have a long ways to go. I just remember reading about someone else doing it recently and was curious.

[Judy-OK]

I am going to hunker down and stay under the umbrella with Trish if there is room. My oncologist likes to leave them in for a year or two. I actually asked the surgeon that put mine in if I could just keep it forever (they did collapse my lung when they installed it). He said that I could as long as I kept it flushed. My sister passed away last October and had the same port in place for over 10 years.

[Muriel]

Hope that umbrella is really big, as I'll be there too. I finished chemo in June 2005 and am afraid to have it removed just yet. In the fall of 2004 we made plans to move from VA to FL. The Onc. thought it would be a good idea to remove the port (I had chemo in the fall of 2003, too). I had one last CT before the port was to come out and guess what. I got to have surgery and chemo again.

Muriel

[Judy-OK]

Muriel the more the merrier we will trade in the hand held umbrella for one of those great big beach umbreallas if we need to. LOL

[ellakc2]

My port was removed in the Dr. office. Was a breeze.They numbed the area and out it came . It was the easiest procedure I had throughout my cancer.

[Surveyor]

If you keep your port, be sure to keep it flushed. No one said anything about keeping it flushed when I finished chemo. I immediately moved on to another oncologist for radiation. Fortunately my primary physician wanted a CT scan that included the neck and lower head area where a clot was spotted originating from the port. As I recall, they put me under to remove the port. They cut along the same 1½” scar made when they put the port in and now the single big scar itches quite a bit. I put hand lotion on the scar everyday and the itch is not very noticeable. If I was going to have it removed again, I would ask them to cut in a little different place.