It’s Her Party…

and she can have it anyone she pleases!

Here’s the deal, in order to make chemo easy on the patient, they have this thing called a port. It is basically a round device, surgically implanted under the skin that gives medical personal access to veins in order to administer drugs, chemo and to draw blood.

Of course with most things in life, you have options – port or being stuck with an IV each time you have chemo. Most people will pick the port because they probably want something convenient, don’t like being stuck with needles a zillion times or have to do some significant rounds of chemo. However, some people may not want to have the port.

This was my mom’s decision – forego the port. You have to remember that she just had her first major surgery a month ago and she was in no mood to have any shape, form or function of surgery in her near future. She at least wanted to try chemo once without the port. If she could get through the treatments that way great! If it was too difficult to get to the veins, her doctors said no big deal – a port could be implanted later.

Helpful Hint:

While your opinion may be solicited, in the end it is up to the person taking the treatment. You may not agree with it, it may not have been what you would have chose and it may not go as easily as one might assume, but none the less – be supportive.

If you see things are not going as planned, be encouraging and comforting until the treatment is completed, otherwise it causes extra stress for the patient – and that’s just another additive that they don’t really need. If you still have an opinion on the matter, address it at a later date.