Port, not the wine kind

The port is finally in. I have to report that it actually WASN'T as bad as I feared it would be. First of all, there was a VERY cute South African doctor doing my procedure. I told him that as long as he kept talking in that accent the procedure would go just fine for me. Additionally, sedation (conscious) was available - THANK YOU GOD! So while I'd had 2 Ativan prior to the procedure, the dosage was so low that I could still have some iv fun drugs to make it all go even easier. The downside of taking those drugs was that I had to wait for a few hours in recovery. The upside was that I barely remember the procedure except for all of the very cool looking xray machines and ultrasound that they used to guide the wire into my chest. I really would have liked to have taken a picture of it for you all, but apparently the hospital has some strict rules about these things. Instead you get to settle for this hot pic of me in recovery, looking very out of it:

There is an absolutely ridiculous amount of tape on my neck holding the dressing on that very small incision (cute doc promised it would be tiny) where they insert the wire and tube. I've been working at it slowly all day and can now actually move my head to the side a bit. The nurse who did it must not have liked me as I discovered that the tape is over my little tiny neck hairs - you know those hairs, the ones that really kill when they get pulled...Ahhhhh!!! Of course, I'm not supposed to mess with the dressing for 48 hours, but who can resist the urge to pick?!

I haven't really touched the port itself yet so I'm not exactly sure where it is. I think there is a good deal of swelling and it's quite tender where the skin has stretched to be over the port. The doctor told me that the incision would be smaller than the one for my neck biopsy so I am hoping for that....but am not going to believe it until I see it. I haven't been messing with that dressing at all as it is far less sticky than the crazy tape they used for the top one.

So, the reveal will be tomorrow, at least for the upper incision....the port one I believe has steri-strips on it so it won't be too visible until they come off for Monday's chemo treatment. On that note, I cannot even believe that Monday is just around the corner. Sigh.

Tomorrow is potentially a big day for me at the TBCC. I am getting my regular labs done but also getting a new chest xray. It SHOULD show some improvement in my tumours (if not the disappearance of them). They say that after the first few treatments the nodes will have responded. Quite frankly, I don't know what to think. Of course I'll be very happy and relieved if they are shrinking or are gone, but what happens if they are not? I'm sure they'll be shrinkin' though..they better be...Tune in tomorrow for the reveal and xray results!