Dear Annie,
I had problems with port almost from beginning, couldn't draw blood, hard to do Herceptin treatments. Finally they only could get blood from my arm so I said enough, let's get it out and replace it. My onc agreed, had it removed and a new one done, I refused to go thru tests to see why it wasn't working. The new one is one of the high tech ones, works wonderfully, they can draw blood, do treatment. The nurses are right, only ones who can access your port are the chemo nurses. I have only one usable arm as I have some lympademia in ot her arm from two bouts of bc, but one was so long ago it's easier to use for CT , labs at internest, etc. Think about replacing the port, it's worth it. I never knew if mine was against the chest wall or what, did not ask. Just glad to get it out of there.
ginkott1@aol.com