Port Surgery

Wednesday I was back at the Elliot for another surgery with Dr. Hoepp, this time to implant a port in my chest.  A port, or venous access device, is implanted just under the skin and has a catheter that runs over my collar bone and into my heart through the superior vena cava. This is how the chemotherapy will be delivered, as well as anything else going in or out that would otherwise need an IV.  It will save me from having to get an IV every time, which will be nice since I've had 8 different ones in the past 3 weeks.  My arms are probably looking a little suspect to the outside observer...

Erin and I right before surgery

This time everything went as planned and the actual procedure took less than 30 minutes.  I woke up feeling great and once they took an x-ray to make sure everything was in the right place, we were cleared to go home.  I have an incision on my chest where the port was placed and one on my neck that was used to feed the catheter line.  I declined a prescription for pain pills because I felt ok and figured I could manage with Tylenol.  Big mistake.  By 8:00 that night I was in agony, so I took one of the pain pills I had left over from the biopsy surgery and called the doctors office first thing this morning to get another prescription.  Sweet relief.

Since then I've been spending time researching my diagnosis, non-Hodgkin's follicular and diffuse large B cell lymphoma, as well as my treatment plan to try to be as prepared as possible.  www.lls.org has a lot of information as well as discussion boards where I've been reading about the experiences of others who have gone down the path I'm about to start.  I connected with the local chapter of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in Boston and they're linking me up with someone close to my age who has survived this exact type of cancer.  As someone who is a "doer" I don't want to just sit back and wait, I want to learn about everything I possibly can.  Next on the calendar is a few more appointments next week and then one last weekend to rest and recover before chemotherapy begins. 

For now, I'm continuing to heal and feeling better every day.  I even went for a walk for the first time yesterday (baby steps, literally.)  My doctor said he wants me to exercise during the chemotherapy treatment as much as possible, which made me happy that I'll still be able to run.  10 more days until the battle begins.