PORT/No more tubes

Yesterday the nursed accessed Izzy's port. I don't know if everyone knows what a port is because before all this I had no idea. Port: An implanted central venous access device, or "port" is a tube placed in a vein in the upper chest or arm. The tube called a catheter, is several inches long and made of flexible plastic. When the port is in place, one end of the catheter lies underneath the skin, just below the collarbone or in the upper arm. The other end is in the large vein that enter the heart. I got that info straight from one of the educational packets, heaven knows we have a LOT of stuff to learn and understand. Anyhow, they place the port so they can give her the anti bio tics, and her chemo. That way they aren't having to do so many pokes. In fact the night after her surgery she told the nurse that she wanted to go to a hospital where they don't get poked. It was so cute. I guess i need to explain to her that such a place does not exist. When they accessed the port yesterday it was a little traumatic for her and her mom and dad. With the port they can also draw labs from it. As they were taking some blood she was looking at it and asked if it was blood coming out. She is so stinkin' tough, I had to remind her that her dad can't see blood like that or he passes out and she was looking straight at it.

Izzy officially has all her tubes removed at this point. We were very excited about that, especially because the drive Izzy crazy. The surgery nurse told me she pulled the tube out that went into her nose done into her belly as soon as she came out of surgery. Then she did it 1 more time that night. It killed me to have to help the nurses by holding her down while they put the tube back in. Even more so because she was telling me to "get my hand off her" and "stop touching her". I know all those lines or tubes are necessary to help give her nutrients and in the case of the one that went down her nose to pull the bile from her little tummy. It sure makes it easier to go for walks without all those tubes.

I know I don't have the best grammar and hopefully spell check catches most of my spelling errors, really this blog is to keep track of what we went through so when the cancer is gone we will look back and see all she has accomplished. Oh and of course to keep out family and friends who are out of state in the "know". This is what Izzy wanted to add....yyyymlkngv2oqsze346ypo0rdcvbnmku7o

Much Love,

Jennie and Izzy