Port removal

Lisa,

I had my port removed the week following chemo. My experience was that it took about an hour and was pretty uneventful. The doctor who removed it said it was going to be about an hour and that’s what it was. He did not use any sedating drugs, only local anesthetic and thus I could go home right away. The only issue I had was an allergic reaction to the adhesive used in bandaging, which I’d experienced before (can’t use even paper tape or bandaids)

My husband’s elderly aunt had a port removed in the doctor’s office…sitting upright in a chair. There are a lot of variances in what is done, how and how long it takes to do. But, an hour , give or take seems to be average for what I’ve heard.

As to the pain…..I had mild to moderate localized pain (pain perception is so unique to each person though) after the port removal and took some Tylenol, but there was nothing I considered to be heavy pain. It was more like a constant uncomfortable , throbby/squeezing feeling….pretty much what I’d expected since they disrupted tissue and put in stitches.

Strangly enough, I still have occasional stabs of pain in the port incision area, which I had all the while the port was in place. It’s apparently a nerve that fires up once in a while, but otherwise, everything healed pretty well. The incision was a bit jagged on one end, but is flattening out more the last few months. Initially, I did have an end of a stitch stick out of the skin, which got stuck on my clothes from time to time, which continued cause me slight pain and trouble, but eventually a doctor pulled it up a bit and snipped it off and haven’t had that problem since then. The same thing happened when the port was implanted.

BTW…when my port was implanted, the guy was very rough (I was awake) and he had trouble putting it in for some reason. I had far more pain after that than the removal and just wanted to sleep it all off.

The extreme pain you seem to be in doesn’t make a lot of sense. I can understand the bruising when the nurses missed the port….they probably hit a vessel when they missed. But, what is causing the big pain after the port removal is something I don’t understand and I’d probably go right back to the doctor tomorrow at the latest and ask for some answers.

Julie T