11/27/19: My Port Incision was Re-Stitched

Yesterday, a nurse in the radiology department called. She said she saw the photo of my port incision (presumably the one my infusion nurse took), and it needs to be re-stitched!! She got me in today to see the same doctor who performed my original port placement surgery.

As an aside, I'll mention that later in the day yesterday, I actually got a second call from a different nurse, this one from the interventional radiology department in the main hospital in the city. She had the exact same message for me, only she scheduled me to see a doctor next week in the city. I told her about the other nurse, and the other appointment at my local satellite location. She said to keep the local appointment, and then apologized for the confusion. I said it's okay, it's nice to know that all the right people are looking at my case and trying to help!

Anyway, so today's appointment was quick, only like half an hour.

I put on a gown, walked into the operating room, and laid down on the table. The doctor said the incision looked good in that it's not infected, and it looks like it's healing fine under the skin. He said it looked worse in the photo.

He started to clean the area around the port. As he was applying the antiseptic, I thought to ask, "Is that chlorhexidine?" It took me a moment to speak up as I realized what he was doing, and I wondered if he had seen my chlorhexidine allergy in my medical file. But I guess I can't assume people will see it! I told him about the rash I got after the port placement; it's not like a serious reaction, but probably worth avoiding if possible. Without missing a beat, he reached for a towel and very calmly said, "Okay, we'll just wipe this off." It was kind of funny. So then he asked the nurse for some Betadine, but they didn't have any in the operating room. The nurse left to get some, but I guess the doctor got tired of waiting, because he decided to clean the area with alcohol.

I got 2 injections of local anesthesia. The pinch and burn hurt a lot! But then I didn't feel a thing as the doctor stitched up the incision with regular sutures. He asked me casual questions about Thanksgiving while he worked.

I have no idea what the stitches look like, they're covered with gauze and Tegaderm. The doctor said my nurses can remove the dressing on Friday when I go in for chemo, and he'll tell them they can remove the stitches next Friday.

Now that the local anesthesia is wearing off, the area kind of stings. I just hope the incision heals properly now, so it can be one less thing to worry about!