Port Day

What a day!  Early this morning, Harvey went off to see the dermatologist in Roseville.  Upon his return, I extracted as much information as I could about the visit.  Suffice it to say that Harvey’s epidermis has been pronounced “good.”

Because the port was to be installed around 3:00 PM, he was told not to eat or drink for eight hours prior to the surgery.  It was difficult for him to go throughout the day without even a drink of water, but he was a champion and did as he was told.  We arrived  at the surgery center at 2:45PM for check in and around 3:15PM we were escorted back to the pre-op area.  The nurse who was assigned to him for the procedure was lovely.  Her name was Annie and she could not have been nicer.  She was very professional and yet friendly and informative.  She explained that she would be starting an IV and would be giving Harvey a large dose of antibiotics.  This is to help prevent any infection around the incision for the port.  We explained that we knew very little about the port itself and she immediately showed us what it looks like, how it is installed, and how it works.  You can view the device if you google “PowerPort”.  The surgeon came in to speak to us around 3:45PM and then Harvey was taken into the operating theatre at 4:00PM.  He was awake throughout the procedure although he was given drugs to relax.  Mostly he felt a lot of pushing and tugging, but no pain.  Around 4:45PM I got a call from Annie to say that he was in recovery and she would come and get me in a few minutes.  Five minutes later I went back to find him sitting on the side of the gurney with a big bottle of orange juice and a small bag of cheese crackers.  We were given instructions for caring for the wound and sent on our way.  After all of our concern, it was really not that big a deal.  I knew that Harvey was glad it was over when he said that all he really wanted was a hamburger and fries.

It will take about two weeks for the area around the port to heal.  In that time, he is not to lift anything heavier than a carton of milk.  I’m very afraid.  He has already had me out back lifting some of the garden gnomes off the grass and onto the barked area.  Looks like I may be enlisted to do all of the heavy lifting for the next couple of weeks.