My port, aka my best friend

My port, aka my best friend

If you have a chronic illness and are thinking about getting a port, you need to read this post. If you want to know more about ports, you need to read this post. Or, if you just like following along with me, you need to read this post! 

I’ve had a port since 2009. After repeated blood draws and PICC lines, my veins were shot, and every time I needed IV antibiotics I had to have anesthesia to get a PICC line places. Typically, this procedure is done while awake, but my veins would no longer cooperate. Making the decision to get a port was not easy for me; I fought it for years. I did NOT want anything weird sticking out of my body. What 16 year old does! However, I finally caved and decided the pros outweighed the cons. The breaking point for me wasn’t the anesthesia from the PICC lines but the repeated failed, miserable blood draws. Nurses would poke and prod and dig just to try to get a vein to cooperate. Let me tell you, it wasn’t pretty. 

The procedure to place the port wasn’t too bad. Except I was arguing with my surgeon about the placement of the port while I was literally being wheeled into the operating room. He didn’t want the port to show, and I wanted it in the normal place (upper chest). I had gotten over the look of the port, and I wanted it where I knew so many other people had their ports. He ended up putting the port where I wanted it, but instead of putting a full size port in, he put in a pediatric port. In order to access a pedi port, you have to be insanely accurate. Those reservoirs are TINY. It caused me so many problems. (Pro-tip: if you are big enough for a normal size port, get a normal size port. The pedi port won’t show as much, but your nurses and your body will thank you for the extra wiggle room). 

It’s a good thing I got the port when I did. As a senior in high school, I was diagnosed with a bacteria called mycobacterium abscesses. The treatment for this is not pleasant—I was on 9 months of continuous IV therapy. I was on IVs from December of my senior year-August right before I began my freshman year in college. What a way to finish high school, right? My port came in handy because other central lines, like PICC lines, can’t last that long. 

My first port wasn’t all sunshine and roses, however. I lost a significant amount of weight in college, and because of that and the size of my port, it shifted locations to right on the top of a rib. This made the port extremely unstable, and it caused many painful port access attempts. For those of you who don’t know, if you try to flush a needle that’s not actually in the port, it hurts like nothing I can really describe. It feels like something is in your body shooting knives into your nerves. I had a port relocation surgery to move the port to a better spot (aka not right on my ribs), and this helped it stay more stable until it was finally time to upgrade.

My new surgeon and I decided it was time to put in an adult port a few years ago. It has been so amazing to have a port that nurses aren’t afraid of and that works best for my body! I am able to use my port for blood draws and infusions, exactly as it was intended. 

If you are considering a port, I would highly recommend talking to your doctor about the pros and cons of a port for your specific situation. Ports aren’t for everyone, but even through some mishaps, I don’t regret my decision to get a port at all.