I'm going to try something a little different here.  Hopefully, you'll like it.


Ahh, that's better.  Cathy has a port.  We woke up really early after a rough night.  We're both pretty tired!  We got to bed about midnight, which is becoming the norm.  Aaron woke up with growing pains or shin splints or something about 2:30 and then Clara woke up about 3:30.  I didn't prepare the bottle ahead of time because I'm not in that practice yet.  So, poor Cathy had to go down and get a bottle ready.  Then we got up about 5:00 to be at the hospital at 6:00.  Cathy had Cathy and Kathy as attending nurses.  She was in surgery in the interventional radiology department by 8:15 and out by 9:00.  The radiologist and the nurses were laughing as they rolled Cathy out because she apparently talked the whole time she was in surgery.  The said most of it was nonsense, but they enjoyed it anyway.  The whole staff was entirely entertained by Cathy.  They can't wait for her to come back to get the port out!


Cathy has an incision about one inch long just below her left collarbone.  Just below that is a little bump that is the port input.  There is a tube that is about 4 inches long that extends from the input area to her jugular.  It's a little bizarre, but very useful.  She has some cream that will numb the area for chemo treatments.  When she goes in for treatment they just stick the needle in that little input bump.  This is nice because it will be direct intravenous delivery and they won't have to search for a vein every time.  The port has some other advantages, too.  They can put in contrast dyes for scans and can do blood draws, as well.  There are some other advantages, but I can't remember what they are.  Oh, she can shower with it.


She was a little nauseous afterward and pretty tired.  Her neck is tired and a little sore, but she's in much better spirits after a good nap.  Thank you for your prayers, it was a successful procedure!