The Ghost of the Port

So after my almost six hour delay in leaving New York Thursday night due to cancelled flights and high winds I got home and to bed by 1:30. I woke up on Friday to find the former site of the port acting up again, so I started taking the Augmentin (antibiotic) I had from two infections earlier. By Saturday it didn't seem to be doing the trick at all, in fact the site was more swollen, red and warm to the touch, so I once again called the emergency number (nothing bad happens except on the weekends, it seems).

The good news is that one of my original surgeons was the doctor on call, so she was more than familiar with my case. In fact she was the doctor who originally broke the news to Scott and me that I had cancer, so she remembered me well, even asking about the dogs. She was concerned by what I told her and wanted me to come to the ER so we could avoid a blood infection.

My dad is in town, so he took me to the hospital and another adventure began. It was pretty low key for us, but there was lots of stuff to observe. A couple different prisoners were brought in, guards with guns, the whole show, and it made me wonder what the guards do when the prisoner is being X-Rayed. They are practically glued to them in the exam area, so do they stay in the room during the radiation, or do they leave them next to an unlocked door to stand behind the glass? Just curious, but I digress.

The cadre of doctors decided I have thrombophlebitis, basically a non-life threatening and rare (surprise!) clotting around a particular area in the vein in my neck coupled with an infection. I asked if there was any way to avoid being admitted, so they spoke to my gyn/onc at home (she is probably as sick of this port thing as I am) and decided to give me heparin which I must inject into my stomach area subcutaneously every 8 hours in addition to continuing with the antibiotic. Well, its better than sitting in the hospital just so someone else can do the shot, I suppose, although it's kind of icky. So, here I am, trying to get rid of the port infection once and for all that I've probably had since it was installed on 12/8/08.

The visit to the ER did give me a good idea for a story, though, so I may write it soon. Imagine the worst night ever in the ER....Friday the 13th, a full moon, a summer night where the temperature never dips below 100 degrees....