I Went To The Hospital For A Port and The Next Steps

Note: I moved this blog to my primary site because it's a lot easier to manage.

If you want the background to this story, please go here.

My sister set up a Go Fund Me, which is here. Thank you to everyone who has contributed.

On Friday, Jan 17, I went to Aspen Valley Hospital and the doctors gave me a port. I wish it had been the type of port that rounds out a good dinner but, sadly, that was not the case.

The port is a medical device, for lack of better term, that allows the easier passage of the chemotherapy and immunotherapy drugs I must take to get over my lymphoma.

I won’t go further into the details. You can see more about ports here.

Getting the port was an important step because it means I can begin the treatment protocol. This will happen in Edwards, Colorado, in the Vail Valley, at the Shaw Cancer Center. Treatment will start Tuesday-Thursday, Jan 21-23.

I’ll go through the treatment details in another blog. I have to read through several pages of dense prose to understand the treatment program.

I’m not looking forward to reading all the documentation. There are lots of moving parts; a lot that can go sideways.

There’s the “mogul” next to my right eye that’s not pleasant to look at plus a swollen lymph node plus surgery on my tonsils in Denver but there really hasn’t been any pain thus far. The mogul gets sore and it’s been oozing some mysterious substances.

But now the lack of physical discomfort is very probably going to change with the introduction of the medicines and related substances. That’s terrifying to me.

I made the mistake of going into the surgery on Friday by myself. I took the bus to the hospital. I admit that I broke down in the bus and walking the short distance to the East Entrance and in the hallways and in the pre-op room. I’m in a scary place. I’m lucky compared to so many people but this unwelcome guest is hitting me hard emotionally. I’ve always prided myself on being independent and strong but that’s all gone out the window. I have to embrace the help from so many kind friends and I’m thankful for all this help.