To Port or not to Port

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Depends where you are, but you can get a port put in your arm in some hospitals ( not the Reject Shop of course). Picc are easier to insert but the port gives you freedom to swim and doesn't need dressings. You can leave them in for ages and they only need flushing once every 4 -6 weeks. 

Hi @Sister ! I made it through 12 weeks Taxol then another 7 months of 3 weekly herceptin (finished on the 19th Jan Hip hip hooray). Twice only did the chemo nurse had to have 2 shots at a vein so they survived well . If you do feel pain that's usually an indication that the canula is not in properly and they'll try again.I always made sure I drank plenty of water beforehand to pump up the veins (but make sure you pee before they canulate you, as it's pain bringing the drip to the loo with you, especially when you forget to unplug it, like I did once :) !) . The nurses call the drip pole/trolley a boyfriend, why??.........wait for it......cause he follows you everywhere , hahaha !
The nurses at Peter Mac always use a heat pack too which makes them pop out a bit more. I wouldn't call the insertion of the canula painful , it's a little pinch or prick and if you breathe through it you should breeze through it. And it's not even a needle per se anymore but a bit of plastic.
My sister's veins however collapsed after her first chemo and she had a port inserted which then got Infected :( To her the port was a physical reminder of her cancer until it was taken out 12 months later. I had the same conversation port vs veins with her before I started and decided to give the veins a go and change to a picc or a port if things deteriorated but thankfully didn't have to.
Good luck with your decision and your chemo but be kind to yourself and follow your gut . All the best J x

Hi sister I have a picc line as at the time a port was not an option my chest was not healing well after surgery.... It was suggested I get a picc line after the first chemo session took 6 attempts at getting into the vein.  http://http//www.sahealth.sa.gov.au/wps/wcm/connect/6227f7004ca2cd97b6e1b72db1c2b182/PICC-care-adult-brochure_V1.0-cdcb-ics-20160428.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CACHEID=ROOTWORKSPACE-6227f7004ca2cd97b6e1b72db1c2b182-m08lHEi  
it meant we didnt have the stress of trying to access a vein each session. 

It is another option to the port.

I didn't have a port. I had 4 rounds of A/C, 12 weekly Taxol and herceptin infusions and then 9 months of herceptin 3 weekly. I also lost use of my left arm, for injection purposes, about halfway through Taxol due to lymphoedema. I also had lots of blood tests. My day oncology nurses were good, the senior nurse an absolute gun. A few occasions when we couldn't get started without a few tries but not many. My pathology lab had one not good operative, and I just politely declined to have her do my tests. They were very understanding at the lab. I didn't fancy having something inserted for a year - towards the end, I could practically give names to my viable veins but we made it! Still happy about my choice, but I don't have any fear of needles, and had no pain. It's a really individual choice. 

Chemo in 2006 wrecked my veins. I had  plebitis which galloped up my arms, it was so painful and, of course, no one warned me and I had no idea what was going on.

When I had to front up again last year the port was a no brainer. I did have some problems with mine mainly stemming from the fact I had it inserted just before Xmas in a hospital I not so jokingly call the Reject Shop. Apart from that it was a godsend. No stabbing or jabbing, I could pop into oncology and they would take bloods. It took all the stress and pain out of what was already a shit situation.

I can understand the reluctance to have yet another procedure, but i can strongly recommend the port as an option that doesn't just make the nurses lives easier. It is so much better to be connected through the port than to sit for hours with a canula in your hand. Yes, mine gave me the creeps and I was overly anxious to get rid of it but compared to the alternative it was a doddle. Marg xx

I had a go not having one. I had  infusions. No in issues. But I had one good vein only and as I was to have 4 AC, 12 Taxol and continue herceptin for 12 months...well I knew that vein wasn't going to make it. I had my port inserted day surgery no issues.

After  being  on blood thinners for eighteen years prior to my cancer diagnosis due to another  medical condition, my veins were buggered. The blood thinners required frequent blood tests to check my clotting levels. A port was suggested because of this and I was very  happy to have it put in. The idea of the port being easier  for the nurses as opposed to putting in an IV line is a bit  simplistic, in my view. In a person with regular veins, that would involve them swabbing  your arm, poking in the  cannula and connecting you up. The proceedure, time wise and fiddle wise is actually more for a port. They bring in a trolley, have to wipe it down, glove, mask and gown up as for a sterile procedure, which it is, open up a sterile dressing port pack, the start. Your skin over and around the port are  swabbed three  or four times, then the  clip and attachment are pushed through the skin surface into the chamber of the port. The  port is then flushed and a sterile dressing applied. Then the infusion is put up. At the end, the  same proceedure  happens in reverse, including a heparin solution injected into the line to keep blood clots from forming before your next infusion. Doesn't look like an easier procedure for them to me. It actually  takes them much longer all told than whacking in and then whipping out a simple cannula. Most importantly....it is easier for the patient. The slight prick and pushing, for me, was less nervewracking than having a finger  prick to check glucose  levels.