Seis de Mayo, 2014

Got up bright and early this morning to get into Seattle by 7:30. Luckily, the traffic was really good for that time of morning.

We were put into one of the private rooms and the nurse took Darrel’s vitals and asked if he had had the Lovenox (blood thinner). He did inject last night before we remembered that he wasn’t supposed to. She was worried that they might not do the port insertion because of that. I was thinking, we better not have got up early for nothing!

They hooked up an IV, took blood for some tests, and then we waited to find out. A little after 8:00, an assistant came with a wheel chair came to take him down to radiology. There had been a consultation between the doctor, nurses, and the radiology physician’s assistant (PA) and they decided if his white blood count was over 500, they would go ahead. It came in at 1600.

The PA reviewed the process, showed us what the port and catheter looked like (bigger than we thought!) First, they gave him some sort of relaxant medication, wiped the area with antiseptic, covered him with some sort of ‘shield’ except where the incision would be. He couldn’t see any of it, which he didn’t mind.

They injected a local anesthetic and made a 2″ incision just under his right collarbone. Then more anesthetic was injected so an area could be ‘carved’ out to hold the port. (The port is probably about an inch in diameter, and 1/2″ – 3/4″ thick, with a catheter about 10 inches long.)

The major vein that is in that area was widened somehow, she didn’t really describe that. The catheter was then threaded into the vein which leads directly to the heart. The port is kept in place with a couple of stitches.

Then the incision was closed using dermabond, kind of like superglue. The nurse said that was better than stitches because he wouldn’t have been able to take a bath for 5 days with stitches. Something to be thankful for on my part, anyway!

Darrel said the whole thing went smoothly and he didn’t feel a thing. He was back in the room in just over an hour.

The chemo came an hour or so after that and they used the new port to infuse it. He didn’t feel anything when this was done.

The nurse then gave him his discharge instructions for the port. No lifting or straining for 7 days. Oh, really? We are going shrimping tomorrow and the pots weigh about 50 pounds. Luckily, Courtney is going with us so he will get the exercise instead. We are also going on Saturday, so we will have to find someone to go with us.

It is probably for the best because we went last Saturday and even though he got help from the nephews that went with us, it was a lot of time on his feet and lifting those big pots all day. He was really wiped out after that!

Then when we got home, he decided to check his bee hives. I didn’t think much about it until he came back in and told me one of the hives had enough honey to harvest so he had to pick up the box and put this thing in that keeps the bees out once they leave…the box only weighs 30 – 40 pounds! Hopefully, he didn’t tear anything!

He is snoozing right now but seems to be feeling okay. Will let you know how the shrimping and port get along.

Happy Mother’s Day to all you moms.

Courtney’s Mom, Robin