The Port is Ready

Makes you think of a cruise, doesn't it? In only a short hour in surgery, Dr. Ramachandran placed a port under Bo's right clavicle. He really is wonderful--followed the natural crease in his skin so as to leave as small a scar a possible. If you have no cancer background, a port is a little plastic device inserted under the skin with a tube that goes straight to the jugular and down near the heart. Freaky, really. Chemo drugs are often vessicants which means that they burn tissue and thus, have to be administered in a vein with enough blood flow to prevent damage. So the port is accessed with a needle that goes through the skin into a plastic disc that feeds into the tube. They can also draw blood that way and administer other medications, or IV fluids--very convenient, really. I imagine that as humans evolve we may naturally grow these--no one would ever need an IV inserted into a tiny little hand vein again.

Intended to write a longer post, but Bo didn't sleep well last night, and that on top of getting up at 4:00 makes for a long day. So I'll put the rest off until tomorrow. Bo is now in bed. He looks a little like he got attacked by a vampire and is walking a little like Frankenstein since he is favoring both arms, now, but all things considered, he is doing well and his spirits are good--he thinks they should have made the tube light up--that's Bo! Good night all, Lisa