Poked and Prodded - Part Deux

One thing that has been so difficult this second time around is that my poor right arm is getting maxed out on jabs and pokes. When I had breast cancer surgery three years ago, I also had a sentinel node biopsy, which involved removing a couple of my lymph nodes under my left arm. A person who has had this procedure is at risk of developing lymphadema in the arm on the side where the procedure was done. It causes swelling that usually can’t be reversed and can be somewhat painful from what I’ve heard. Because of this I am not supposed to have any injections or blood drawn, or my blood pressure taken, from my left arm. So, my poor right arm has taken a beating with all the blood draws, IV’s, etc. And, one of my chemo medications may cause some damage to my veins, so I need a better solution.

There are options to getting a semi-permanent access to your veins while you go through chemo – either a port, which is installed under your skin near your clavicle and requires a brief surgery for placement. It does require some stitches that will leave a minor scar. Then you just have to be poked slightly to get it going and all blood draws, infusions, etc., can be done from that one site without multiple jabs. The other is a PICC line. This was not the favored choice by my oncologist, but it won’t leave a scar. I feel I have accumulated enough scars already and I would prefer to deal with the PICC line just to avoid the scar, even though it’s a bit more work to maintain it than a port. I guess I feel like it is one little thing I have control over when I don’t have much control over anything else.

Monday, I was supposed to have the PICC line installed at a general surgery site of my health insurance company. However, it didn’t take. They got the procedure started, but a clot developed in the vein they were using and they couldn’t go further. The little wire they use actually got bent slightly…yikes!

So I had an appointment at a local hospital to get the PICC line installed on Tuesday. The procedure took about 45 minutes and, I have to say, was not so fun. They start by numbing your upper arm in the spot where they will insert the wire to thread through your vein to the right atrium of your heart. I did not find the threading procedure too comfortable…I could feel it all the way up to my armpit but not after that. Once that was completed, I guess they must have threaded in the catheter. However, I wasn’t looking.

I recommend bringing an iPod for all such procedures. Much more soothing and you get to hear what you want instead of silence, or the technicians discussing what they’re going to do to you, or their not so spectacular choice of music.

So now that it’s in, it is actually a bit of a pain in the butt to take care of. I have to flush it each day with saline solution and heparin and I’m not doing such a spectacular job of keeping it dry. But I'll persevere.

I had my first chemo Wednesday and so far so good…more on that in my next post.