So, I had my port installed yesterday. The interventional radiologist that installed it told me he was installing a Power Port, but the package they gave me calls it a Dignity port – so now I don’t know what kind of port they actually installed! I’ll have to make a phone call over to interventional radiology (IR) when their office opens to get clarification (it is completely under the skin, so I cannot see it). Looking on the Internet, they are different things. I kind of like the PowerPort better just for the name. When he said it was a PowerPort (rather than mediport), I thought immediately of the Power Rangers, and thought myself a super hero. I kind of like the idea that I’ve had super powers installed – as I think I’ll need them as the weeks progress!

I’ve heard from several others on chemo that it was a good decision to just get the port. The idea is that with the port, they don’t need to find a vein each time they need to draw blood or give treatment. Given how difficult it is for them to draw blood from me under ideal circumstances, this was actually a pretty easy decision for me.

The procedure itself went well. It wasn’t at all the same kind of sedation as cataract surgery, though they called it the same thing. I was pretty much high as a kite blabbing away to the drug dealer (nurse who gives the drugs). He said he visited Canada and asked about the unique Canadian food. It took me a minute, then I realized he was talking about poutine! It is funny because we see poutine on some menus here (they try and make if fancy with spicy gravy and totally do it wrong), and it is associated with Canada – where I’ve always associated it with Quebec. Somehow we managed to talk about poutine for half an hour while the surgery was being done. Again, I was pretty loopy and talkative, and what I remember most is that my mouth was pretty dry from talking too much after not having had anything to eat or drink since the night before.

Immediately after surgery they offered me food (I was starving) and a drink. I think I ate more yesterday than I’ve eaten for weeks!

With all else that was going on, I also managed to slip in a teeth cleaning yesterday. I had seen the dentist back in March in Ottawa, so it wasn’t strictly necessary – but I read somewhere that it is recommended to do it before chemo. You cannot do it during chemo, as you have an increased risk of infection and one of the potential side effects is mouth sores. So, that was one more task off the pre-chemo checklist. We liked the dentist, so that too is one more relocation task accomplished.

We are hoping to get a few days off of everything next week. Scott had booked vacation over a month ago (pre cancer diagnosis), and we have a campsite booked at Yosemite Monday – Friday. We won’t stay that long, but it would be nice to go up for a couple of nights. I haven’t been to Yosemite yet (its about a 4 hour drive from here), and I’d love the opportunity to spend a couple or few days in nature forgetting about the last few weeks (decompressing) and mentally preparing for the months ahead.