port pain

[norkdo]

my port, which has been in for a couple of months now, has been smarting for half a week now. the pain is at the surface. wondering if i should contact my chemo oncologist or my brand new family doctor or the nurse at the chemo unit. my chemo is all done now. I have ten months of herceptin to go.

[NEDenise]

Hi Nora,
Yes! As one doc told me..."Pain is never normal".
Call...even if it's nothing to worry about (which is likely), maybe they can suggest a way to make the 'smarting' stop.

You have earned the right to be absolutely pain-free! :)
Call! It can't hurt.

Just my humble opinion, of course.
Merry Christmas, my friend! Look forward to a MUCH happier new year!!
Denise

[KDR]

Nordko,
I agree with my good friend, Denise. She's given sound advice.

I am sorry not to have answered your query about the World Trade Center in an earlier and different post, but as you can now see, I have been in a flurry of information and testing and decision-making for this trial. I'm not sure this is the forum to exchange information on it, but I would welcome you to write me at fairsheek@aol.com to ask any and all you might want to know. I was a witness for a reason: to tell the story from the inside to those who ask.

Warm regards,
Karen

[Kellennea]

Nora -

I had pain in mine as well and when it was checked it was fine. I was told that when you have a foreign object in your body, your body tends to make it it's own (meaning tissue starts to wrap around it, etc).

I couldnt stand my port and had it removed 3 weeks after my last chemo and did the rest of my herceptin in a vein on the top of my hand... sometimes the area where my port was still feels tender.

[ElaineM]

I would mention the problem to someone who knows ports-----a chemo nurse, an oncologist or the doctor who put it in.
Ports have minds of their own. They can get infections or get clogged. They can move to a slightly different location. If ports are clogged they can be cleaned out with altiphase (I call it drano for ports.) quite easily.
I have had the same port since March of 2000. It has its movements, but works just fine most of the time.

[BonnieR]

As the others have said, best to ask a chemo nurse who probably has the most first hand experience. My port never felt terrific and I always knew it was there. It has been a few years since it was out and I still have tenderness around the area sometimes. I assume nerves coming back to life, scar tissue, etc.
Keep the faith.