Bonnie’s Purple Heart

Yesterday Bonnie went in to have a port implanted in her upper chest so the Chemo can be easily given. We got there about 10 and filled out another medical history form. (you would think that they would make one available for all to see in their system).

They took her in at 10:15 and prepped her to go into minor surgery to insert the port implant. They gave her an I.V. for fluids including an antibiotic and to put her out enough to not feel the surgery.

They showed us the port they were going to implant. It was about a 3/4-1 by 1/2 inch purple heart shaped implant that had a small tube that was to go up 2-3 inches toward her neck and then would be inserted into an artery and go back down toward the heart another 2-3 inches. This is all under her skin of course. See the link for some info on the port.

http://www.crbard.com/news/innovations/PowerPortImplantedPort.cfm

They can give her all her Chemo and take blood for tests and administer contrasts for scans and even do transfusion if needed through the port.

They said she would be gone for an hour to do the 20-30 minute procedure. She was gone for an hour and 50 minutes. She said it took a while before they even got started and a nurse said she kept asking for more pain meds. She doesn’t remember that but said she was awake and aware of quite a bit of the procedure. They brought her a sandwich and chips for lunch while she recovered and we left at 1:50. She is very sore today around the neck area and says it feels like it did when she had her thyroid surgery. It is also black and blue today. As a side note. Apparently those who have had thyroid nodules (benign or malignant) are more likely to get colon cancer at a later time.

She is scheduled for her first chemo treatment (FolFox) Tuesday at 11 that should take about 3-4 hours. She will have a pump put on the port that will administer the 5FU drug for the 48 hours after she leaves the cancer center. We are hoping she doesn’t get too wiped out after her treatment and the next one 2 weeks later so that we can still go to New Mexico on March 12^th. But we will have to see how she is feeling as that gets closer.

She wants to thank you all again very much for your generous acts of kindness and cards and comments and food. It is very much appreciated. It is great to have such tremendous support during this trying time. Thanks again.