Hello lovely ladies.
I hope you are all as well as can be.
I'm aware that portacaths can be inserted into the inner of the upper arm now, a relatively new practice - i assume?
Each woman i have spoken to whom has a chest power port says it's the best thing they could have done. I wondered if any of you have the portacath in your arm, and if so what your experiences are of that?
Best wishes
Lisa xx
Hi. I have a power port in chest and love it. Sorry, not what you asked. I’ve never heard of an arm port, only a PICC line. Xx
Hi Delia, Thank you for your response. I did get a Power Port in the chest in the end. I weighed up all the pros and cons and it seemed to be the better option for me. One treatment done so far and it was a relief not to have the stress of multiple attempts to cannulate my thin, deep peripheral veins in my arm. xx
Hi Lisa, only heard of PICC line in arm which is what I had. I resisted at first but best thing tbh.
Hi Katmal, Thank you for your response. I had a PICC inserted previously during first-line. I had a pretty bad reaction to it.. non stop itching in my arm and started to get red rash and sight blister, so they had to take the PICC out after three days... I never even got to have a treatment through it.
This time around I did get a Power Port in the chest in the end. I weighed up all the pros and cons and it seemed to be the better option for me. One treatment done so far and it was a relief not to have the stress of multiple attempts to cannulate my thin, deep peripheral veins in my arm. xx
I had a PICC line in my arm, it was great. They fitted it with ease. I could have my bloods taken through it and chemo. They could also put contrast dye through it for CT scans. I had to get it flushed with saline every week and change plastic transparent film on it. I went to Marsden to get it done but they said family member could be trained to do it if I wanted. Only downside was having to cover it in waterproof arm protector if showering etc. Also I used arm band to cover end of tube when out and about. It was great. Not sure if I needed to have chemo again if Id go for it or chest one. X
Hi Heart, Thank you for your response. I had a PICC inserted previously during first-line. I had a pretty bad reaction to it.. non stop itching in my arm and started to get red rash and sight blister, so they had to take the PICC out after three days... I never even got to have a treatment through it.
This time around I did get a Power Port in the chest in the end. I weighed up all the pros and cons and it seemed to be the better option for me. One treatment done so far and it was a relief not to have the stress of multiple attempts to cannulate my thin, deep peripheral veins in my arm. xx
Hi Meridian, I haven't heard of an arm port either but if its something similar to a picc line the only downside would probably be having to cover it while showering. I have a portcath in my chest since 2019 & find it great. You can swim or shower without covering it so if you have a choice I would highly recommend it. Xx
Hi Tulips, Thank you for your response. I had a PICC inserted previously during first-line. I had a pretty bad reaction to it.. non stop itching in my arm and started to get red rash and sight blister, so they had to take the PICC out after three days... I never even got to have a treatment through it.
This time around I did get a Power Port in the chest in the end (it can be put in the arm, but it's more distance for the catheter tube to travel to get it into a main vein near the neck). I weighed up all the pros and cons and in the chest seemed to be the better option for me. One treatment done so far and it was a relief not to have the stress of multiple attempts to cannulate my thin, deep peripheral veins in my arm. xx
Ah I am delighted you got sorted & hopefully like me you won't have any trouble with it. I also hope your treatment goes well for you X
I've got a portcath in my chest which is good, it is very low maintenance, you don't need to worry about it in the shower and no one would know it was there. The staff at the Hospital recommended it over the picc line and I'm inclined to agree. Sue xx
Thanks Sue. I went for a Power Port in the chest in the end. First treatment through it was stress free.. Yay!
Hi , I have an arm port. I've had it just over a year. The fitting of it was fine, took about half an hour as I remember. Its been good, made chemo etc much easier. I go about my daily life with it fine and have been swimming. my particular one sometimes sits on vein and sometimes requires bit of tweaking to get blood back, but that's only sometimes. You don't need to cover like you so a PICC line as is an internal device.
Thanks Sassy. went for a Power Port in the chest in the end. First treatment through it was stress free.. Yay!
Hi Meridian14,I live in the US and have had a portacath installed twice in my arm. Initially it was installed for my chemo after surgery and was removed after 5 months. With my 1st recurrence last summer they installed one again at my request. I have had that one for a year now and plan to keep it as long as possible. It makes infusions and blood tests so much easier, especially since I had garbage veins even before my OC diagnosis. I just make sure I get it flushed every six weeks but since I see my team every 4-5 weeks that hasn't been a problem.
I hope this helps. Sending hugs and best wishes.
Thank you for your response. I went for a Power Port in the chest in the end. First treatment through it was stress free.. Yay!
Hi Magicgirl. I hope things are well with you and that treatment for your first recurrence went well? Thank you for your advice regarding a portacath. I hope you have managed to keep yours in and that it is serving you well if you are still having treatment. I will follow your advice and try and keep mine in for as long as possible too.
Best wishes.
Lisa
Hi Meridian14, I use swimming as my preferred means of exercise, especially when I was in chemo as I had access to a private 7,000gallon water-tank which was an excellent 24ft long x 12 ft wide above ground pool; a chest portacath enabled me to go on swimming every day, slowly as much or little as I felt I could cope with - that and a yoga app really helped ny emotional balance. My portacath was removed after 5 years after I'd had no recurrence.
Warmest wishes for your treatment and future. L x
Thank you for your response Lesley. I went for a Power Port in the chest in the end. First treatment through it was stress free.. Yay!
Hi Lesley, Just to say thanks again for your response. Fantastic that having the chest portacath meant that you could enjoy swimming everyday, and how great that you had access to a private pool. That must have done you so much good. I hope that yoga and swimming are still helping to keep you in good balance.
All the best
Lisa
Hi again Lisa, thank you for keeping in touch - I assume you are holding as steady as any of us do with this demands of this disease and treatments? Although I no longer live near the 'private pool / water tank!, I now have a wetsuit and wild swim in the lochs in the late spring, summer and early autumn months and use the public swimming pool during the winter. I'm now too tired for yoga in the eveings so have put together a short routine which doubles up as a lymphoedema massage as well for each morning; then take every opportunity to practice balance, e.g. tieing shoelaces or putting on my wetsuit socks before swimming. I'm so impressed how well a body can fare even after these major surgeries and chemos when you give it thought, care, kindness and love! Warmest wishes and keep looking after yourself and having fun. Lx
I have a powerport (aka portacath) in my chest. It was fairly straightforward (and I wrote about the process in a post about this last year - you can probably search for it). Mine has been a vast improvement on the previous method of trying to access my tiny and collapsing veins and causing me (genuine, diagnosed) PTSD in the process!
One thing I would check - with the chest port (and PICC line too I think), you are told to limit how much you lift at any one time, in case it 'dislodges' the device. I should think this will apply to this option too, so if strenuous swimming/weights/gym is important to your usual routine and quality of life, then this may be something you need to consider.
Ports need to be flushed every 4 weeks or so. PICC lines weekly. Sometimes, there is a risk that the body will reject the implant and if that happens, they will remove it, and not allow install of any other device. I mention this only because it happened to a friend, and they hadn't warned her it could be a (remote) possibility. She had a severe infection for several weeks and is now back to cannulation rather than the ease of her PICC and won't be allowed the port she wanted. It's not likely - just something you need to be aware of.
Do ask the CNS or your consultant for the full rundown of pros and cons. My team were super helpful.
Best wishes
testarossa71
Thanks so much for your response. I went for a Power Port in the chest in the end. First treatment through it was stress free.. Yay!
Oh that's fab, well done. How are you finding it?
So far so good. It certainly beats all the attempts at jabs in the arm and sore veins.
Hi testarossa,
I wanted to say thank you again for the information and advice you gave regarding a chest portacath. I can understand how one would get to being diagnosed with PTSD from the stressful, painful experiences of continuous attempts to put a cannula in peripheral veins.
I found it incredibly stressful and I would get more and more distressed at each failed attempt. I tried all the tricks in the book; drank so much water, heat pads, hot water bottles.. a few times they used the ultrasound - but always so stressful.
I hope you are doing well, and if you are still undergoing treatment i hope your portacath (power port?) is still serving you well.
Best wishes
Lisa
Hi! We're exactly the same age! I had my port removed a month ago. It was in for 12 months. It was in my chest- upper right. I now wish I had just left it in! (because I have been back in hospital with a bowel obstruction 3 weeks ago- and lots of blood tests). The power port was great. No issues. Apart from having to have it flushed every 4 weeks- which actually is a bonus as you can ask for a blood test at the same time (they never seem to refuse a blood test as you're already there having it flushed).
Hi Anna, Thank you for your response. I did go for a Power Port in the chest in the end. First treatment through it was stress free.. Yay!
Hi Anna, I hope that you are doing well. I'm so sorry to read that you had to go back into hospital a while back. I hope that the bowel obstruction got resolved quickly and has not given you any further difficulties?
Best wishes
Lisa
I am new to all this - what is a portacath?
its a little gadget that gets inserted into your chest, apparently you can have them in the arm nowadays... but not many hospitals put them in the arm as thats a relatively new procedure. the portacath/powerport is a small triangular shaped port and has a catheter (thin tube) attached to it which gets thread ovr your collar bone and into a main vein in your neck. The portacath/power port has a small circular seal/membrane in the middle and the nurses can feel where it is situated and put a needle in for chemo infusions, drawing bloods, for contrast dye etc. saves all the difficulty trying to put a canular in a vein in the arm if your veins are very fine and deep like mine, it becomes very difficult to get infusions through these veins. So having a minor procedure to get a power port put in my chest was a relief for me.
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