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First of all, I would recommend a port for first time chemo users to avoid ruining your veins for the future. My arm is unuseable because of scar tissue and the veins in my hand roll. Anyway, my port is 1 yr old and has been intermittently not giving a draw back for the last 6 mos. Today it wdn't draw back or accept a drip, so they sent me to have it xrayed with dye. It's ok, but has developed a fibron sheath...very common...that clogs the opening for a drawback but will get pushed out of the way for infusion. They had even tried something called "cath-flow" which is supposed to help, but it didn't. Radiology put something else in there (DVP?)that was more effective and suddenly it gave and received just fine. My onc gave me a prescription for very low dosage coumadin which I haven't picked up yet. I'll be on the look out for side effects, and if I have any I'll switch to aspirin. I've not had any clotting issues and it's my understanding that the coumadin is to help the blood get by the fibron sheath. I'd like not to have the port replaced yet and am willing to try alternatives. Good luck!
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