Bye, Bye, Portie

So I have been feeling horrible the last couple of days, and also developed some symptoms that ended up being side effects of the sulfa drug Bactrim that I was on to help heal up the infection in my port catheter. My hands have a dark purple rash that makes it look like I have gloves on, and I have basically an Egyptian-stlye collar's worth of rash around my whole neck and shoulders. The dots also go onto my face and I started getting sores around my mouth. Well, after a friend at work suggested I look at the side effects for sulfa drugs (she has a sensitivity to them as well) it ended up these are all related to the drug I was taking, not any backlash from chemo, which I was thinking it was. To top things off, even while still on the drug to cure the port infection, the port started heating up, turning red and showing signs of infection again this morning!

It got worse all day, but this time I acted faster than before and called my doc early on. Long story short, she took me off the medication effective immediately and made an appointment to have the port removed today before it could get any worse. After three previous infections she (and I) had had it with the port. So, it's gone! I went to the hospital and had a quick outpatient procedure this afternoon, and am now port-free! I may need to get another one put in on the other side at some point, depending on when/if I get get chemo again, though.

I also heard briefly about the CT scan, although I will get the "official" decision after I have been to Sloan-Kettering and the two oncologists discuss things. It looks like treatment is working, and most of the mets in the lungs have shrunk, with the exception of one spot, which has grown. The good news is almost everything is responding to treatment, so based on what Dr B and tumor board discussed this morning along with the second opinion input after tomorrow, I will either be having surgery soon or a bit more chemo then surgery. Hopefully I will get definitive word before the three day weekend, so I don't have to wait too long. I personally am concerned about the spot that has grown, burt I will focus healing energy there and see if we can't send it along with its friends. All in all we have a very good outcome after three cycles of chemo, and I am fine with whatever course we take next as long as I hear about it soon! I get impatient and stressed waiting for results, since its hard to know the answers are out there, we just don't know them yet.