Port Removal - What's it like?

My port never gave me a minute of trouble.  It was put in and 2 days later I was getting chemo.  During treatment I always used it.  And once I discovered the topical cream and spray, I never felt anything.  During year 2 & 3 the scar from insertion became undetectable and even the port itself seemed less visible. So I was really uninhibited.  I started wearing spaghetti straps and tank tops and thought absolutely nothing about it.

I have a fear of needles and I have very sensitive skin with bad veins, so I feel even the slightest rub against my skin as somewhat painful.  At the dentist I have to take a valium to get gas, prior to the novicaine and the dentist only has a 25-35 window of time, because my adrenaline is so high, it overrides the numbing meds. 

with my port, I ran, I took boot camp  and kick boxing classes and Ilifted weights.  I did push ups and ab crunches and wore a 20lb weight vest during workouts.  I even sleep on my stomach.  There was absolutely nothing I couldn't do with it.  It felt like an ear or nose.  I didn't even notice it until I was thinking about it.  My port was my friend.  It made drawing blood an experience like I had never felt before.  Very easy and pain free.

The port removal is a breeze. It's out in a few seconds. I had herceptin also and had to have the port in for awhile. It was more inconvenient than painful but I did have skin reactions to the tape holding it on and I itched like crazy. You might get a little sore after such a long time but it's not bad and worth it versus having an IV put in every time.

I'm also am having my port out on June 1, 2011 and am concered myself at the removal. I want to be knocked out completely because the 'twilight sleep" doesn't do a thing for me. When I first had it put in, it wasn't bad but I heard the removal is harder.  My chemo is over, have a clean scan last week so having it out right away because I believe it closes the drama I have been living. I was diagnosised with Ovarian cancer Stage 4 which included my colon & chest lynph nodes, Dec 11,2010. I have been very positive to get where I'm am today, like all of us survivors but I too just want to know really how it feels. Thanks for all your comments. God Bless Us All!

Hi, My name is Melissa
I have never had cancer but my fiance had cancer and is now getting his port out and i was freaking out how they do it and did some reasearch and found this forum...All your posts made me feel a lot better about him getting it removed.
My fiance and I weren't together during the time of his cancer...It is is sort funny how I discovered his port as he never told me about it or showed me...He took is shirt off infront of me and i seen this round thing on his chest...and i was like :O OMG! what is that? why do you have button in your chest?...and he laughed and said it's my port that is how they injected the medicine for his cancer and explained that it goes to his heart and his heart pumped the medicine through his body equally.
So for 2 yrs i got used to it and knew one day he would have to get it out and the time has now come he gets it out in 2 weeks from now...I'm happy in a way that he is taking it out...it means the Dr, is certin he is all clear and safe to have it removed....But it still freaks me out a little bit about the whole procedure and the safe removal of it.
My fiance had Sarcoma at age 20...him and I are going to be 24 this october...and we plan on getting married in a couple years and plan to have children...He has such an amazing perspective on life...he lives for today and not what might happen, Which is my problem...i worry constantly about him...he is also epileptic and has had a seizure with me when we dated back in high school...But i've gotten use to the fact that all his medication is better then it was before and that he is healthier and safer then he has ever been...I still live in slight fear about something bad happening to my love but he has helped me think more about what i have right now...and not what could possibly happen later or the next day.

= ) Anyways Thank you all 

     I had my port removed on July 29, 2011.  I had to go back to have them check it.  I have a hard place where the port was about the size of a quarter or a little bit bigger, it is a hematoma or blood clot.  It is putting pressure on the nerve in my arm and causing alot of pain.  I have to not do much with my arm and have to elevate it above my heart.  They are hoping that it will dissolve on its own.  I can;t lift anything over 10 lbs.  It feels like bees are stinging me in the area between by elbow and the place where the port was.  I have to call the port patient care person in a week and let her know how it is feeling.  I hope it dissolves on it's own I don't want to have any more surgery.  Putting the port in and during the year and 2 months I never had a bit of trouble with it.

I had my port removed after three years three weeks ago (I think) - it took about 10 minutes and didn't hurt at all it was taken out with just a "freezing" shot - I had dissolving stitches and they are gone and there was no pain just a little bruising - I took an ativan prior to arriving at the day surgery because I am a huge chicken.

Very easy -- the area was numbed with lidocaine (I think) and it was out within minutes.  No pain at all.  I can't recall stitches but remember a small bandage and easy healing.

Hi HDOWNH and everybody else here!

This was a helpful forum to me becuz I just had my port removed yesterday, Dec. 13, just a few days after you HDOWNH.  Amazing, this thread was begun three years ago, and folks keep coming on here and putting down their situations with the chemo port.  So, I'll add mine.

It took place at the same cancer clinic I've been going to since all this cancer routine started, so this was the last show, other than continuing doc visits.  I was TERRIFIED to go have this done, stomach upset for three days, and so I was so relieved when it was over, I cried after the doc told me, "You are now port free."  The shots to numb it did not hurt, the tiny incision did not hurt, and I had no idea when the thing was out until the doc informed me.  I did not have any kind of anesthesia at all, I was wide awake.  I asked for pain medicines as my pain tolerance is not what it once was, they said no.  But today I wish I had them.  However, I do take other pain drugs for my other disorders and syndromes, so it's not as bad as it could be.  Still, it is QUITE sore.

What they did was put a clearish tape right over the incision to stay one week, and then a wad of gauze pads held in place by giant tape, they said I could take that "compression bandage" off in 24 hours, not to do anything forceful with that arm for a couple days.  But that tape would not stay stuck down, so not much compression, and loose tape was very annoying, and I finally changed it first thing this morning and put a much smaller bandage in its place.  As for not using that arm, when I left the center I opened the very heavy door with my surgery side!  I think I felt it bleed a little.  When I took off the bandage, it had indeed bled just a tiny bit, but that incision tape did not appear to have moved at all.

For those who posed the question how did they keep the blood vessels from bleeding, the doc will hold down the ends after they pull the port out, and within seconds it clots by itself.  I had a physician and nurse with me when this was done, had been told a doc assist would do it which is part of why I was afraid to have this done, so I was relieved one of the center's docs did it!  So, now I just rest and protect that wound area, put up with the soreness, curse "the war on drugs," however helpful it might be for that serious problem, but I do not see why REAL patients cannot have something extra for when the body is cut open, for crying out loud! 

So, I will say to anyone who has recently had their port put in, and wind up reading about what will happen when it comes out, and you are ever given pain drugs during your long cancer treatments, set aside a few pills for when the port is removed.  I should have had mine out before rads, but doc and I both forgot, so was glad to get it out now!  I also have had some discomfort with the port for the last six weeks or so, so I hope that will go away now that it's gone. 

Well I was 18 when I married my wife and 6 weeks after marriage I found out I had Hodgkins Lymphoma Cancer. I had a port put in because of my veins being so skinny. I went for 6 months of chemotherapy and then 15 radiation visits. The doctor told me that he wanted me to keep the port in longer just in case the cancer comes back and we wouldn't have to put the port back in. So, I agreed. I went to visit my doctor 2 weeks ago and he told me that I can remove my port because Cancer was no longer a threat to me. So it is 4:32 AM and I am scheduled to have the port removed at 1:00 PM less then 9 hours from now. I have been on the internet trying to find out if this "procedure" is scary or not. Thanks to this post I now am much more comforted and can't wait to get this behind me. 

I thank God for using me for His glory and bringing Healing to me and my family. 

It was only His Word that kept me strong and without Him or His Word I wouldn't  be able to overcome this. 

Thanks to everyone who posts for the help. They helped me so much that I made an account just so I can reply to you. I know it's been a while since u had your port removed and just wanted to let you know that you really helped me a lot. Thanks

Hi boobzilla, I had a port in my chest with the tubing connecting to my neck. I had my port removed in Feb of this year. They make an incision over the port to remove the port and tubing. It was a 30 min procedure, no pain afterward just soreness. You can go on YouTube and watch it being done. The only problem I had was it left an ugly keloid, my doc referred me to a plastic surgeon to have it removed. Well the scar is gone but know my skin is discolored from the steroid injection. I kind of wish I never got the port its a reminder that stares me in the face everyday and now I have to be concerned about wearing certain tops. Hope you have better luck once your is removed.

boobzilla, glad to hear everything went well. Take care

Report back: It took me at least 30 min from injecting the local anesthetics to applying the skin glue (no twilight for me). Obviously when my BS put it in, she used quite a few stitches to secure it. So when the radiologist had to take it out, it was more "work." I felt I heard him cutting with scissors like more than 15 times.

I had TCHP neoadjuvent chemo from Dec '14 to Apr. '15, then LX, then RT, and continued to have Herceptin for a year. I've just finished the Herceptin, so that will be the last of infusions. Hormonals from now on...

My MO said I could get my port out after Thanksgiving... Are there reasons to keep it in any longer? I can't really think of any, unless I get cancer again, and I'm really hoping NOT to do that!

My veins are crappy, but I still get blood drawn from my arm, since only the infusion nurses and some hospital nurses are qualified to use my port anyway...

Still, I'm nervous about getting it out! It hasn't caused me problems all year. Although it can be a little sensitive if my bra rubs it or the car seat-belt... It will be nice not needing to get it flushed, of course. And the tube up to the neck feels a bit stiff at times.

It's been GREAT having it for my infusions. And when I was hospitalized during chemo and they used it for my IV. SO much nicer than having an IV in my arm for days on end! So I'm happy to have had it for all this time...

Lots of mixed feelings!

I was told NOT to get it done in an office, though. It was put in in the hospital. Just local and twilight, but I was still awake and talking... but at one point a bunch of blood gushed out (I had it all in my hair afterward! Ugh!). They had all these papers wrapped over me and everything to keep sanitary. Anyone have ideas on office vs operating room?

Or keeping port in or not? (I really have no reason to keep it in that I am aware of, although some people on this forum have said their MOs said to keep it in for 2 years just to make sure!)

Hi i am heading toward the end of my herseptin treatment in 3 months time then hoping to get my port removed it has been causing a lot of discomfort in the chest i am hoping to get it removed under twilight the same as when it went in