I went in this morning and they took my blood and shortly after got the white blood count back and it was good, like twice normal or something (so high because of the neupogen shots I give myself the last week+), and was able to get the catheter put in today. It takes longer to get the platelets and/or stemcell results back, so didn’t have that in advance of putting the cath in. It turned out they weren’t high enough. They were 15 and should havebeen 20 or more before they start harvesting. So they didn’t do the harvest today. She (the doc’s RN) said it should be good enough tomorrow, so going back tomorrow morning to check, if it is high enough they’ll start then.
Putting the cath in sucked more than getting the port put in. They did twight light sleep (general anestetic that makes you kinda sleep and not remember any of it but is less than full anastetic for surgery) on me for the port but this time they just did general anastetic and local to the area but was awake the whole time. It sometimes didn’t hurt at all, just felt pressure, other times it hurt pretty good. Had to resist from flinching away from what he was doing when it hurt. It was weird being awake for it. At one point I felt my heart kinda beat with two beats closer than they should have been and then one slightly longer space than it should have been. One nurse/tech guy that was watching a screen said something and the doc backed out a little bit and it went bacl to normal and the tech goes, ‘better’ or something and then the doc continued.
The cath it’s self has two tubs instead of one like the port and has external tubes unlike the port which is all under the skin. So ya, there’s like a 3 or 4 inch dingle berry thing hanging out of the left side, with my port still on the right side. So far it has sucked and hurt but it’s not super bad, hoping tomorrow isn’t worse from swelling or anyhing. Just have to see what happens tomorrow.
I’m pretty sure the RN or Doc said for the infusion they could use either my port or the new cath (unlike the harvest, whichrequires the new one) so I’m probably going to see if I can get it taken out before I start radiation ’cause I’d rather not fuck with having it for basically an extra two months or whatever if I don’t have to.
Oh, and ya, I got like 3 hours of sleep last night, good times. Took a couple hour nap thos evening little while after we got home, so not super hatin’ it sleep wise but have to get there at 7:30 or so, so going to bed soon.
You have two tubes protruding from you skin now ? The port *and* the catheter ?
Where are these tubes inserted and what are their diameter and stub-lengths from the skin ?
The port I’ve had for a year now, it’s totally under the skin (though not deep). It’s for one needle.
The new catheter is a tube that comes out of my skin and then splits into two things that you can screw into an IV line or a syringe. It’s about two inches and then splits into the separate sides and then those are about three inches. The diameter is less than a pencil… it’s about the diameter of the average USB cable probably. 😛
the port is on the right side, the new shit is on the left side, both go into my jugular.
“both go into my jugular” – Wow…
Doesn’t that affect your speech or at least, make it painful to talk ?
Nope. My port goes in at the base of my neck or lower. My new catheter goes in lower than that.