Ports

[anonymous]

I know there was another topic but I can't find it. I am in need of a new mediport and while I am on my second one, they were both placed in the same place (upper chest) at my pediatric hospital. I am now seen by adult doctors at the "grown up" hospital, and they do not place pediatric ports, so I am not going to get it in such an obvious spot.

Does anyone have a port in their arm? What do you like or dislike about it? Can you access it yourself?

What other port placement options are there? There are very few places the surgeons at my new hospital will place them. I'm going in later this month and need to make a decision soon.

Thanks!

-Melanie
aka rotandroll
CF/CFRD

 

[Emily65Roses]

Mine is below my left breast, and I like it just fine there. It's not in the way, really, and it's easy enough to access (yes, I do it myself, even with my boob in the way). If you're self-conscious, it's a good spot because it's hidden unless you're in a two-piece swimsuit or a bra. I'm not, but they just kind of placed it there without telling me I had options, figuring because I was an 18 year old girl, I'd care about whether or not it could be seen.

I've never had an arm port, but from what someone else said last time this topic was up... Apparently the hardware itself is smaller, and harder to access. But as I've never had one myself, I may not be very reliable there. I'm just repeating what someone else said. <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">

 

[blindhearted]

Mine is located in the same place as emily. I had my first one there at 15 yrs old and I made it quite clear that I did not want it to show, specally in prom pictures and so on. I got my second one in the same place (give or take a few centimeters) this past March. Works great there. Takes a little while to get use to it as far as laying my side or stomache. When its accessed I cant lay on that side, but it is easy to hide being accessed under a tshirt. Usually no one even knows a needle is there. Personally I feel like I can "protect" the needle better from getting hit where its at. I, however, don't access my own, only because I dont like the thought of sticking myself with a needle.

 

[AimeeSue82]

Mine is in the underside of my left upper arm. When I hang my arm down at my side, it's about even with my boob. I really like mine located where it is because I am very self conscience about people seeing it. No one ever knows it's there unless I show them. It's about the size of a nickle and barely sticks out at all. I don't access it myself, but I probably could if I tried. I'm just a chicken!

I have noticed a couple problems though. The first port I had shifted positions in my arm and ended up turning a little bit side ways. For a while it still worked fine even though it was turned, as long as the nurses felt around really carefully to figure out it's correct position. But then I had one access it on the edge of the rubber seal and the metal rim, which kept the seal from closing up properly. That caused some of the meds to infiltrate into my tissue because we didn't realize what had happened. So I had to have it replaced and the put the second one in the same spot.

The other problem is that it doesn't always return blood. Sometimes it works fine, but then other times I have to try to reposition my arm to try to get it to return. There have been a couple times when we just couldn't get it to return blood at all though.

Other than that, I love the port in my arm. Let me know if you have any more questions, I'd be glad to help.

-Aimee/22/Colorado

 

[anonymous]

For those of you with a port placed right below your breast, is it ontop of the rib cage? How is the recovery from that surgery?

Aimee-- This is Melanie. How are you doing? Have you seen docs at Nat'l Jewish yet?

-Melanie
aka rotandroll
CF/CFRD

 

[Emily65Roses]

Yes, mine's on top of my ribcage. The recovery kind of sucked, but that's because I was sick at the time. So I was coughing a lot. It was bad timing. I won't lie though, the recovery was not too fun. But it was worth it.

 

[anonymous]

Hey Melanie!
I didn't make it to N/J yet. Got sick and came to Children's through the ER. I'm still in. I've been here 2 weeks tomorrow and my PFTs have only gone from 66 to 71 in two weeks. I usually get back up into the 80's by now. I'm staying longer because I refuse to leave until my PFTs are back up where I want them. They're talking about changing antibiotics and doing a bronch...yuck! I'm going to do my follow up at N/J though so this will be my last admission to Childrens. There's a lot of CFers in right now.

Talk to you soon!
-Aimee

 

[anonymous]

My daughter's is in her chest on the left side just below the arm pit. So it is not seen with any of her clothing and clothing does not rub on it at all. When she places her arm down you cannot tell she even has a port. She accesses the site herself and we have not had any problems with it and has had it for 2 years. We also like the fact that it is well protected in this location because she is 12 and very active.