port trouble

[michele u]

I was worried about my port last week. I went friday for my tx. it went great, flushed good and everything. Then sat night i had to go to the er because i was having heart pounding spells and shortness of breathe. The thought i had a blood clot somewhere. I was extremely weak and tired. The did the d-dimer test to check for clots. It went alright. My ekg was ok too. They said they thought i was dehydrated and lack of sleep. I was afraid for them to do a muga because mine was boardline at 50 last time. I don't want them to pull my herceptin! Has anyone had any of these weird things happen? Mostly the shortness of breathe is what scares me.

[Lolly]

Michele, last week you mentioned they might do a dye study to check the port. Was that done and everything ok as far as the port and catheter?
I don't know about the pounding heart plus shortness of breath, it does sound worrisome...It almost sounds like an allergic reaction, have they checked out that angle?
Hope you're feeling better, and hope some others have some ideas.

Love, Lolly

[Lyn]

Hi Michelle, it didn't happen to me, but it happened while I was having treatment, the nurse accessed a port and the lady kind of went into shock and started shivering, looked frightening, it seems that there was a bug, germ on the skin and it went into the port with the first flush, straight into her blood stream, so she had to have anti-biotics instead of chemo, apparently she had been in a ward and they used her port for something else, so it seems there are a lot of it could be's, hope yours is sorted soon, they are a blessing but also a nuisance.

Love & Hugs Lyn

[eleanor]

Hi, I understand the fears you have and there could be a few reasons for shortness of breath, dehydration, low red blood count, infection and cardiac problems. Your dr would be your best source of info BUT you have to pay attention to the Muga numbers. A low number puts you at risk for congestive heart failure. Going off herceptin for a few weeks to allow your heart to heal won't have a big impact on your treatment since herceptin stays in your system for several weeks. The break will allow your heart to correct itself.
check with your onc asap
el