Port, Rash, Steroids, & Some Great News

Last Thursday, November 8th I had outpatient surgery to put in a port.  Usually they only do a local anesthesia, but my surgeon decided to do a general - so I was completely out. 
A chemotherapy port is a small devise (yes mine is purple) that is implanted under your skin to allow easy access to your bloodstream. A port can be used to draw blood and infuse chemo drugs.  It makes chemotherapy so much easier.  During insertion, a small round metal or plastic disc is placed under your skin through an inch-or-two-long incision.


My port is on my left side - upper chest - above the clavicle. The port is then attached to a catheter tube that is threaded into one of the large veins near your neck, such as the subclavian vein or jugular vein, and ends near the top of my heart.
It is totally under my skin.  All you can see is a small scar and a bump.  I will take a picture of it when the rest of the bandages are off.  The surgeon also drained all the excess fluid on my right chest and under my arm.


    Anyways, the surgery was minor and I was home by 1 in the afternoon.  The next two days were painful, but I dosed up on pain pills & retreated to my cave (my big, dark, cozy bedroom).  It actually was more painful than my mastectomy.  I think that is pretty unbelievable.
     Anyways, just as the pain was subsiding I started getting itchy in the middle of the night (Friday night).  I woke up and noticed I had broken out where the iodine prep was still on my skin.  So I washed it off and went back to bed.  For those of you who think that is gross that I still had that on....I would like to point out that my doctor said not to shower until Saturday & I still had a HUGE bandage on my chest.  By morning I had broken out in a EVIL rash all over my left breast.  By the end of Saturday it had spread to my upper left arm, underarm, abdomen, mastectomy site, neck, and upper chest. I had deep red, raw streaks in many places.  The bumps all over were swollen...it was Ridiculous. I was COMPLETELY miserable. I felt like my skin was on fire and I wanted to rip my skin off.  I felt like I was going INSANE.
      We called the surgical nurses at the hospital.  They told us to go to the ER.  I said -NO WAY.  I didn't want to go anywhere - I was a little delirious.  So they paged my doctor and he told my husband to not take me to the er.  I had been through enough.  He said unfortunately, it was not uncommon for this to happen.  It is an allergic reaction to the iodine/soap scrub down they give the area to prep for surgery.  He told my hubby to have me take Benadryl and put cortisone cream on the rash.  If it wasn't better by Monday or if I got a fever to call him back.  My sister-in-law Anne-Marie also suggested icing the area & taking some other allergy meds in addition.  Honestly, that was the only thing that really helped!!  I would ice the whole area down until it was numb and then I was able to fall asleep before it started itching again.  Thanks Anne-Marie!
     On Sunday it was not NOT any better, BUT it was the primary program that I had been looking forward to.  So I dosed up on meds, said a prayer or two, and put on my happy face.   I then went and led the music for my AWESOME kiddos in the program.  I was able to do it somehow.  By the time the program was over I was clammy and feeling faint and wanted to scratch my body off, but I DID IT!!!!  The kids sang beautifully and I was happy I didn't miss the program.  I then proceeded to go home and pass out.  Sunday was a blur and so was Monday.
     On Monday I had an appointment with the oncology PA to discuss my family tree/genetics and whether I should get the genetic test for the breast cancer gene.  I had her look at my rash.  She gave me a prescription for steroids to help get rid of the severe allergic reaction.  I am happy to report that when I woke up this morning the rash FINALLY was better.  It hasn't gone away, but it has gone down enough that I fell much better.  The steroids are making me tired, restless, and bloated, BUT THAT IS OK....It is much better than the INSANITY I felt all weekend long.

     The PA was concerned with my family history of cancer on my father's side.  My dad died of melanoma at age 51.  His sister (my auntie Trish) died at age 51 from multiple myeloma.  My dad and aunt lived in the Indian Bend Wash are in high school.  There is a high incidence rate of a wide variety of cancers in that area from people that lived in that area in that time period.   Some local companies had dumped industrial cancer causing solvents that contaminated the water in the 60's. It was discovered in 1983 and declared a Superfund site and the companies had to pay to clean it up. Hmmmmmmmm, this makes me wonder..........
    Anyways, my grandpa has had multiple melanoma lesions removed from his head/ears/neck & has colon cancer (but he didn't get the colon cancer until he was in his 90's).  My mom has even had melanoma.  I have had two cancers by age 41 and one of my younger cousins has had cancer too. There is only relation that I know of that has had breast cancer though - my mom's aunt.  But, she thinks it is concerning and is going to pass my case on to the City of Hope in Los Angeles to see what they think.  So she said it is up to me if I want to have the genetic test done.  She said there is an 8% chance I have it.  I think I am going to do the test for piece of mind.

I still do not know what my chemo plan is.  My 2nd test for HER-2 came back as inconclusive.  They said this is extremely rare for both tests to come back as inconclusive.  So there is only one other test that will give the HER-2 levels.  It is a genetic test.  It has been ordered and the results will hopefully be back by the end of the week.  I have another appointment for the day before Thanksgiving to discuss my chemo plan (we should know by then - hopefully).  They are now planning on me to start chemo the week after Thanksgiving.

So I have had a rough week AND my mom leaves on Wednesday.   BUT, I have good news for those of you who read this LONG post.

My PET scan and brain MRI came back NORMAL.  This means the cancer has NOT spread beyond the lymph nodes!!!  HOORAY!!!  This makes me happy and much more calm.  

 Finally, some good news :)