The Port...Again!

So it's been awhile since I've had a chance to log on, since last weekend was all about the port getting infected again. That lead to another day of non-port-use for chemo last Monday, where they had to go through the arm again (yowza, did it hurt this time, after 4 sticks to find the right spot...I was a bit dehydrated from being out of it all weekend). I ended up checking myself into the hospital on Tuesday and stayed until Thursday to get IV antibiotics to finally cut the infection down. I saaw my oncologist on Monday right before chemo, and she told me that if it didn't get better I needed to check in, so I went ahead the next day when the new antibiotics didn't seem to be having much effect. I was starting to get a bit paranoid and obsessive about it, taking my temperature every half hour, checking to see if a red line was coming off the port, so when I noticed the infection seem to drop from the line in the port more into the body iteself, and get swollen and red, I finally listened to a couple co-workers who insisted I go check in.

It ended up being a good decision, as I felt peace of mind almost immediately and was no longer trying to self-regulate and second-guess what the doctors "might" say. I don't want to seem hypocondriacal but I tend to try and be too stoic sometimes as well. It's back to "if there's no blood or bone showing, how bad can it be?" All in all the doctor's backed my decision and I was able to almost watch the infection disappear, as the IV antibiotics really seem to have a leg up on the garden-variety pills you normally get.

The good news is I'm out and about, the bad news is hospital food is horrible and you get virtually no sleep while you are there, so I've been doing practially nothing but sleep since I've been home (although I did go to work Friday to feel normal again). i have a couple other thoughts, so will add other posts in a bit.