Rants and Rambles

I’m really impressed. After a few too many times with blood tests and the like (past years, not this current experience) I like many people, grew to dislike needles. I’ve grown to tolerate them better but I’m sure I could never in my imagination ever become an injection drug user.  I’ve had a few IVs too, with mixed reaction mostly on the low to very low end of the scale. The most recent one at the hospital in prep for some of the tests were the worst. Two failed attempts to veins in my hand. I started afraid and it just got worse as my autonomic (is thet the right word) responses ranged from fetal position while trying to keep my hand and arm relaxed (HA!) to my vein just closing up so the needle (not really a needle but I’m not sire of the right term) couldn’t be threaded in far enough. Third one in the other arm was much better (well, at least they got it done).

But soon they “installed” something they call a “port”. This is probably one of the little marvels of medicine that is now pretty routine and seemingly insignificant but i think that as a single device or procedure, it’s had to have accumulated a great deal of “points” for the pain and discomfort it’s avoided for so many patients. This little device consists of two parts. One portion is the port itself; imagine the top of one of those bottles the injected meds are in that they draw from to fill the hypo. That gets placed under the skin, usually near the collar bone, with the injectable part outward of course. The other part is the tube, a catheter, which is threaded into and through the vein to near the heart. Sounds kind of gross and it looks a bit odd too as the port leaves a fairly obvious lump, but it’s supposed to be easy for them to find. What this means is, not assaulting a poor vein over and over when you are going to need a number of IVs and/or blood draws for tests over an extended period of time; that can be rough on the veins not to mention emotions if, like my earlier experience, it takes three times to get one right. Once the port is in, they “access” it with a HUGE (OK, it only looks bad) needle with a short section of IV tube attached with a couple of fittings. hey numbed the skin above the port so I barely felt it, and it only had to go through the skin. No need to take as careful aim as when worrying about missing or going through the other side of a vein. There was even a guide or jig that lines up with three bumps that can be felt through the skin (look carefully and they can be seen in the x-ray) to center the needle. This all tapes down under a bandage. They test with a blood “return” and flush it after blood draws and the IV infusions. They can change the bags to switch between the drugs they’re administrating; “push” an injection of a smaller amount of a medication from a hypo (injected into the line rather than directly into you) or stop and draw blood for more tests. You never feel the changes. This, I’ve no doubt, is making a big difference in how tolerable this is all going to be.

Port to the right, catheter to the left

Not funny.