I am pleased to say that being overweight is my saving grace with the port. You can’t see the port besides what looks like some slight swelling nor can you see the catheter. This might change as some more of the swelling comes down (for instance, I can feel the palpation points on the port a lot more than I could when I first took my bandage off) but it’s not as bad as I thought. WordPress is being silly so images require head tilting.
- Before taking off the bandages with a shirt that’s fairly indicative of the cut of my shirts. The top bandage is the incision in my neck and the bottom is the “pocket” incision and the port.
Steristrips cover the incisions. The port is below the bottom incision- you really can't see it!
The procedure itself wasn’t particularly fun. First they couldn’t find a vein to do my IV drip, so they had to go into my hand. Ouch. Then I was awake through the whole procedure. The surgeon (a really nice guy who I chatted with before going in!) asked me if I was napping at one point during the 45 minutes. I told him no. Then he asked if I felt sedated. I said, “Well I’m not having a panic attack, so I must be.” I guess the all got a hit out of that. Me, not so much.
It didn’t hurt at least. And I couldn’t see anything. Then I was trapped in recovery hell for 2 hours.
Unfortunately, they didn’t give me any painkillers afterward. I was too loopy to ask for them at the time. Big mistake. Apparently most people are fine with something over the counter. Apparently I am also not “most people”. I took a nap when I got home and woke up 5 hours later literally crying out in pain. I might not have been so vocal had I realized my roommate was at home… I ended up not able to go into work the next day because it hurt so bad.
It’s now been about 5 days and while it’s still not comfortable by any means, it’s not intensely painful. Finding a position to sleep in is the biggest issue at the moment since pressure on the area is not fun. It’s more itchy than anything (thanks steristrips).
I hope the weird feeling a tube going over my collar bone and into my neck stops being so weird soon.
Allie E. Morse 
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