Ports Moving

[Stephanie B.]

Has anyone ever had their port move around? I have had mine in since Dec 2004 and never had problems until recently. I have been on weekly Herceptin since Oct 2006 and added bi-weekly Taxol in Feb 2007. The last couple of weeks my nurse has had a hard time accessing my port - we had to use a longer needle one week and used two needles before we were in the second week. Yesterday she couldn't even access it at all and we had to start an IV. She said it felt like it had flipped over. She asked my oncologist if this was possible and he said yes. They had me go get an X-Ray to see the position.

I guess my question is will they have to completely remove the port and put in a new one or can they just fix the one that is already there?

Thanks for any input.

Stephanie

[StephN]

Hi -
I have had a few problems with my original port that sound a lot like yours. The specialist in access lines did a dye study under a flouroscope to see if the end of the catheter was clogged. This was after an x-ray determined that the port was still "sunny side up."
It was determined that a myelin sheath was blocking my line - it would flush, but not draw.

Solution was to get my finicky port replaced with a newer one which is placed higher and does stick out, which the old one didn't.

Good luck!

[janet11]

I've had chemo nurses tell me about others who have had ports 'flip' too. Apparently they're stitched down in a couple places (?) and if a stitch gives away, it can flip. Mine went a bit 'sideways' once, but the nurse wiggled it a little and got it 'topside up' again. Never had the happen again.

Guess it's just one of those things that can happen.

I also have the 'flush but not draw' from time to time. They've always gotten it to draw, but only after a lot of... raise the left arm, no raise the right arm, face left, try facing right, cough, etc...

The funny thing is that generally the next time after going through these contortions, it draws fine.. NO consistency here.

[Lolly]

I've also had port problems in the past; I'm on my third port since 2007. If a port has major problems they usually play it safe and replace it, and it sounds like that's going to probably be what they'll suggest for yours. As surgeries go, it's a fairly easy one! Good luck, keep us posted.

<3 Lolly

[caya]

Stephanie,

My port flipped over the first time the nurse tried to access it after it was inserted. They sent me back to the radiologist and luckily he was able to manipulate it externally and get it back into position.
He said this was unusual, totally not my fault, just one of those things.
Hopefully it won't happen again, so far has been okay.

Caya

[Stephanie B.]

Thank you for the information.