port

So, I'm starting Rituxan on Friday, supposedly! :dry:
Anyway, my nurses want me to get a port put in. You see, there are only like 2 places on my arms/hands that they can find a vein. Last time I was supposed to start Rituxan they had to poke me 5 times to find the vein! So, my question is...does anyone else have one? Does it hurt to get? Is it hard to keep clean?

OK, I'm no expert but I did have Rituxan last year, and it seems like a lot for 4 treatments. I guess if finding a spot is that hard maybe it's a good idea. My question would be more along the lines of is it a good idea for someone with bleeding issues....
Sorry I know I'm no help, but good luck with the Rituxan, I finished mine up a year ago next week and so far so good, I haven't treated since! I would do it again if I needed to.
Hope it goes well,
Andra

Hi, I know of people who have had a port in, some for chemo, some for itp. It will be better instead of getting poked all the time with needles.
I have crap veins too but the registrar put a catheter in my arm where he found a vein half way up my arm between my wrist and my elbow on the underside.
Hope they sort you out easily
Julia

thanks for the input guys. I'll be getting it done on Thursday and starting the Rituxan on Friday! I hope I'm not sore from it!

I saw the thread title and thought you were going to ask us if you could drink port while you had ITP. Port and lemon was my drink of choice many years ago.

:laugh: that was great Ann. Thanks for the laugh, I need it this morning!

actually, you still have to get poked with a port... because the port is under the skin, and it has to be 'accessed' with a special needle. I think you can leave the access line in for periods of time, but it does not mean you're poke-free anymore. i have a couple friends who had ports for many years, and eventually they either scarred over or otherwise malfunctioned and had to be replaced.

the IV access where you don't have to get poked anymore would be a Hickman or Broviac catheter (I don't think there's any substantial difference between those two, the names are the brand names) where the IV lumens (tubes) hang out of you all the time. They require more maintenance and don't last as long as ports. It's also harder to shower and you can't go swimming I had one when I was 18.

Well I got it. Still sore! I had the procedure done on Thrusday. Was supposed to start Rituxan on Friday, but I was to swollen still and the nurses couldn't find the port! I will finally start it next Friday, I hope! I didn't know that I would still get "poked". They tell me it doesn't hurt though. I don't know how long I'll have it in, I hope not long enough to get tough skin from it, or something going wrong with it!

So I woke up this morning and had a huge deep purple bruise on my left breast, about 6 inches from the incision site and it scared me to death! I called the doc right away. I get there and they tell me that it's normal! Why didn't anyone tell me that before?! I mean, I'm sure they have done a couple of these thing before and would think to tell someone to expect a nasty bruise! :dry:

Oh what a feeling to wake up to that bruise. I am glad you were reassured it is normal after the port is put in. I wish you success with the Rituxan.

^^^ thank you very much. I'll be glad when the first dosing is over!

I got a port in about 1 1/2 years ago and don't know how I survived without it. However it's not all roses... here are some things that I personally have experienced (doesn't mean it will happen to you, but still things that I wish I had known...)

The first time I had my port accessed after the surgery it hurt, I wanted to call the nurses liars for telling me a port would hurt less.. it didn't. The first 2 -3 times it still was as bad as doing it in my arm. Now it's completely numb, I don't feel anything but the pressure of them pushing it in, it's really wonderful.

I was paranoid about maitinence at first and it's different for everyone but I can pretty easily go 2 months between flushes.

think of the line from your port to your heart like a hose, you can find a position to kink it, if for some reason the IV liquid (whatever it may be) isn't going in like it is supposed to, try shifting your body position, you may have inadvertantly put a 'kink' in your hose

the nurses will think you are crazy, but I swear by this one... if they can't get a blood draw out of it, stand up and do something to get your hr/blood pressure up a little. That seems to help get a blood return even when they think you may have a 'block'. insist on doing this before they put cath-flow in you...

Ok, now i've made it sound horrible, but really it's a great thing. I have the location of my port printed on my medical ID and it's great peace of mind to know that if I get into an accident and need platelets they won't have to spend precious time to find a vein etc. I no longer dread blood draws as they are virtually painless now. If you have any other questions feel free to ask.

I agree about the poke to access the port hurting, but at least it's only one poke and not 5 or 6 to find a vein!
I had quite an experience today. For the 4th time I was supposed to start the Rituxan, but guess what? It didn't happen...again! The nurses couldn't find the port so we went down to raidiology so they could look for it with a x-ray kinda machine. Three pokes later they did get the needle in but.....the inch and a half needle they had, which is the longest one they have...kept coming out of the port! UGH! I'm still oozing saline from the injection site. I'm getting really tired of this whole thing. I get myself ready for a 3 to 6 hour day at the hospital, preparing myself in case there might be a reaction, then...nope! Not today.

I'm sorry to hear that I've never had a problem with the needle coming out, but I had 3 weeks between getting the port and starting Rituxan so maybe it took a long time for the swelling to go down. Mine is pretty close to the surface and easy to find when you are looking for it, but there is no bump to the naked eye (which I was worried about) even the scar is pretty light now.