Jani and I went to the Pre-Op appointment with surgeon, Stefan Pettine, MD at the Northern Colorado Surgical Associates at the Harmony Campus in Fort Collins, Colorado at 11 AM.
Jani and I with our goofy reading glasses which we are ALWAYS looking for.
An infusaport will be surgically implanted beneath my skin right under my collar bone on the left side. No tubing will stick out of my skin, however, the the infusaport will appear as a lump on my skin that will be visible.
Photos from Mark Fusco
Medicine is given through the infusaport through a special needle called a Huber needle. This needle is "L-shaped and inserted through the chest skin over the surgically implanted dome or port connected to a catheter threaded into a large vein in my upper chest.
Photos from Mark Fusco
I will be able to swim and shower normally after the small surgical incision heals after 10-14 days since the entire device is located beneath the skin. Often the skin over the port where the Huber needle goes in is somewhat numb, but a topical anesthetic cream came be put over the site on the skin where the needle goes in to further anesthesize the area.
The infusaport must be flushed with heparin only once a month and after it is used for intravenous medication delivery. Infusaports can considered "permanent" and can last a long time - even years.
I'm to report to the Harmony Ambulatory Surgery Center in Fort Collins, Colorado at 7 AM Monday June 13, 2011 for the procedure with Dr. Stefan Pettine at 8:30 AM. Dr. Pettine will leave a Huber Needle hooked to a syringe of normal saline in the newly implanted infusaport for my 1 PM 1st chemotherapy appointment at Dr. James Moore's office (right next door).
Dr. Pettine suggested that I keep a sterile Huber Needle with me when and if I travel back to Idaho just in case it would need attention. The infusaport CANNOT be accessed by any other type of needle.
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