A Foreign Visitor

I now have a "foreign body" inside of me as the surgeon called it. It seems a little weird to me and looks a bit strange as well. I have a small incision on the right side of my chest and a little hole just below my previous neck incision, making 5 scars total so far. (We have pictures but I am pretty sure that most people reading this would just as soon not see them so they won't be posted.) There is a lump under my skin that is probably as round as a quarter and sticks up enough to see it even from a few feet away. I haven't been touching it yet but once I am healed I'll explore around it. From the lump (technically called a port) there is a tube that goes up to my neck (the tube is called a catheter for those wanting an education). It looks like a bulging vein right under my skin. Once it gets to my neck it goes into one of my veins. The advantage of having a port-a-cath is I won't have to get IV's anymore. This will keep my veins from wearing out and save me from the deeper pokes. They'll be able to draw blood for testing, inject the chemo drugs, and also inject the radioactive tracers for PET/CT scans by just poking my lump through the layer of skin. The recovery today was much easier than the recovery was two weeks ago from my biopsy. I only had one small incision instead of two large ones and I didn't have to recover from general anesthesia. I am also taking some of my leftover Vicodin which does wonders. I woke up from a nap at 4:00 and just laid there dozing in and out enjoying not having to move. I'd usually wake myself up since when I lay flat on my back I start to snore a bit. But I just laid there and kept relaxing until the cycle of doze, snore, wake repeated itself for 30 minutes or so. This was fabulous and only possible because of my wonderful wife and her mother taking such good care of me and my Sophie. For those of you wondering about the actual procedure, I was given Fentanyl and Versed so I was in and out, but out most of the time. They put pads over me to give the doctor a sterile area to work in and built a little tent over my head. I was instructed to turn my head to left to expose my neck to the surgeon so I was able to see out of my tent the whole time. Unfortunately nothing prevented the burn of the shots to numb the area but that doesn't last long. For those of you who haven't had the pleasure of that experience, it does feel a bit like how the dentist numbs you up to do a filling. I remember them asking me a few things during the procedure and I remember a bit of pushing that thankfully didn't cause any pain. That's about all I remember though and I am glad it wasn't a rough experience because I'll admit that I was a bit nervous last night. I will be seeing the radiation oncologist on Wednesday the 27th at the Mayo clinic so we'll have more details on that part of the treatment soon. I'll sign off again by saying thank you for all of the support. Everyday I find out about more people who are reading the blog and offering prayers in my behalf. The vast majority of you live many miles away but we truly do feel your strength. Thank you so much.