AN EFFING DISASTER.

So yesterday was a bit of a disaster. I went to Mary Black for a port-a-gram, meaning they would xray my port in the cath lab while accessing it and injecting dye to make sure its functioning properly. That did not happen. After sticking me with not one, but FOUR one inch long needles, they determined they needed a longer 1.5 inch one. Which I told them when I walked in the door. After they found the longer needles they tried three more times from different angles to access the reservoir of my port. It was NOT happening. I literally had to sit on my hands to keep from jumping off the table. They injected contrast dye under my skin and it pooled on top of the port, so they assumed that meant the port was flipped upside down. Cut to this morning, my chest is still very swollen from all the sticks and chemo and dye going under my skin. Luckily it's feeling a little better. They referred me back to my surgeon to have my port removed and replaced. Reminder, this tiny device cost me $1500 out of pocket already. So my surgeon takes a look at me, calls Mary Black, they have no records or images available from my visit yesterday. Not the best sign. So I had xrays done in the surgeon's office. At this point we can't tell for sure from the images, but the port doesn't appear to have moved or flipped. I also got to educate my surgeon a bit. The Bard Power Port has letters on it that can be seen under xray. If the letters are backwards it indicates the port is flipped upside down. Apparently he'd never even seen that before! So as of now, even tho I'm sore and managed to leak chemo all over a cute shirt, we think my port is okay. Next Friday I'm scheduled for fluids, hopefully by then the swelling will have subsided and they'll be able to access it with no problems!