![]() Watch for redness, swelling, pain, or drainage around the port. ![]() ![]() Be sure you and everyone who touches your port washes their hands carefully. This can be very serious, even life-threatening. Ports can lead to an infection in the skin over the port or in your bloodstream. Clots can usually be treated with blood thinners, but your port may need to come out. If you have this, call your doctor right away. Your cancer care team should be able to tell you which kind you have.Ī clot can also cause swelling in your arms, shoulder, neck, or head. Other ports only require a flush every 90 days,” Krishnamurthi says. “For some ports, it’s recommended you have flushes every 4 to 6 weeks. Flushing means putting saline, the anti-clotting drug heparin, or both through the port and the catheter. You can help prevent clots by making sure your port’s flushed regularly when you’re not using it. Having a port raises your chance of a clot even more. “Cancer causes inflammation and compresses blood vessels - both risk factors for blood clots,” Connors says. Jean Connors, MD, who directs the anticoagulation management service at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, both in Boston, says just having cancer makes blood clots more likely. Be sure you know what to watch for, what to do about it, and when to call your cancer care team.īlood clots: One can block blood flow in the vein or travel to your lungs. Krishnamurthi says many folks are happy with their ports.īut ports can also cause serious problems. And though you can feel and see the port’s small bump, most other people can’t. But a seat belt cover, port pillow, or even a soft towel are easy fixes. Seat belts can be a problem because they rub where the port is. You don’t have to change the way you eat, sleep, or drive, either. You don’t need a bandage on your port when you’re not using it, and there’s no dressing to change. Once your incision heals, you can shower, swim, and do anything else you feel up to doing. “The port provides a safe, reliable way to have chemotherapy infusing at home.” Day-to-Day Livingįor most people, a port’s pretty simple to live with. “We can’t send home with chemotherapy running in through an IV in the arm because that could easily become dislodged - in their sleep, for example,” Krishnamurthi says. “That way, the port is numb when it’s time for the nurse to access it with a needle.”įor a lot of folks with advanced cancer, a port means they can have treatments at home instead of the hospital. “ know where the needle will be placed, so they can numb the port by applying lidocaine cream to the skin over the port before they come in,” Krishnamurthi says. A port is also less likely than an IV to leak medicine that can damage your skin and other tissues.Ĭhemotherapy through a port may hurt less, too, according to Smitha Krishnamurthi, MD, a medical oncologist at the Cleveland Clinic. And since most blood tests can be drawn from the port, you won’t need constant needle pricks in your arm. This means you can get chemotherapy without having an IV placed in a vein for each treatment. Medicine and fluids injected into the port flow from this vein into your bloodstream. A soft tube called a catheter connects it to a large vein above your heart. The port gets placed under your skin, usually near your collarbone. But if you have advanced colon cancer, it’s likely changed the way you get chemotherapy. A medical port is no bigger than a quarter.
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