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I've had my port since May 05, used weekly or more with no problems. I use the lidocaine cream and found that the recommended 45 minutes should be doubled. One and a half hours works well for me. Once I waited around for over 3 hours with the cream applied, and boy did I not feel a thing that time.
Never have I seen any white fat globs, but one time, suction in the port prevented a blood draw. The nurse had me take a couple deep breaths to release the suction via the chest movement, then all was fine.
It takes about a month for the port area to toughen up, so if you are going right from surgery to the chemo room, you can ask the surgeon to leave it accessed, and the chemo nurses will take care of everything. In fact, you can leave it accessed overnight, or even longer, but personally, I'd rather get stuck again the next day.
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