I can only help with a PICC line experience and it was much better than having a cannula inserted every week! It was put in with a local anaesthetic and took about 45 minutes. I had to have it flushed and the dressing changed every week but apart from that it was very easy to live with for 4 months. I’ve got a small <1cm scar on my inside upper arm where it went in but that’s all.
I’m sure they’ll be someone along shortly to advise about a port so I hope you manage to make the best decision for you. Wishing you luck with your treatment and fingers crossed everything goes smoothly.
If you arre being offered a port.....take it. All your chemo will be administered without any pain. I had a port and an hour before I left for the clinic my OH put the local anaesthetic patch over it. At the hospital the nurse just attached the equipment through the numbed skin. I have a tiny white line( very neat) just below the collar bone but you wouldn't notice it if you weren't looking. I can compare the port and picc because I have had both. Later, an operation to correct a problem caused by chemo resulted in sepsis. At first the nurses tried to administer antibiotics intravenously but like chemo, antibiotics can block poor veins and mine are awful. After eight different attempts in 48 hours I was given a PICC. Naturally for the short term .....another 8 days....it was anazing but having already had the port....I know which is preferable.
My port was put in with a general anaesthetic and I was half a day in the hospital. The op took 10 minutes.
Hope this helps you make a decision. I have noticed that sometimes when this question is asked, people who were too afraid to have the one they were offered tell you not to bother because chemo by vein is ok but I live in an area where the port isn't an option. Everyone has one so I never questioned it....I just thought that's how chemo was given. Only later, when I found Macmillan did I read about some of the difficulties blocked veins cause.
P. S. The port doesn't need flushing nor keeping dry so once it's in and the small op heals( about 10 days) you can sleep without anything in your arm too, shower easily, and there is nothing to catch in clothes or doir handles. I kept catching my Picc at night.
I had a picc line and that was drama all the time. I developed allergy to plasters within a month. Never had allergy before. At first few spots and itchy skin but then half of my arm was covered in blister and yellow pass .My skin didn't want to heal as they needed to put new plasters each week. Then I had bacteria inside a picc line so I end up in hospital with sepsis.It needed to be removed at the end thank God. From my experience I would not use picc line. My oncologist suggest to replace it with port but I said I don't want it and I stay with cannula.
I have heard that before about the glue on the plaster causing allergy. In fact my OH has a sensor for blood readings for Type 1 diabetes and he has had to change the dressings several times because he reacted to various glues though not as severely as you have.
I imagine your chemo is now nearly finished but if not don't dismiss the port because the Picc caused you difficulties. Once the port is inserted, there is nothing on the outside. It doesn't need flushing, it's waterproof, no plasters because there's nothing to stick, no pain, no needles, no blocked veins which can happen with cannulas and no cording. Certainly to be considered if offered.
As I said before, I have had treatment with all three methods. The port was certainly the best for me.
If you're being offered a port - snap their hands off and take it.
I had one. No weekly flushing, no irritating dressings, no limits (once it's healed) on what you can do.
They offered me one when I asked whether I'd be able to shoot arrows with a PICC, which I wouldn't. I realised later that I'd not have been able to do my job with a PICC either.
And I do love a long soak in a hot bath, which would also have been off the menu.
Thanks for the detailed responses. Really helpful. The allergy to plasters is very interesting, as I have had this before, and could well be a problem.
i am concerned about PICC partly because of the need to flush . I live a long way from the hospital, and community nurses are difficult to come by in my area. The hospital routinely offers PICC, but a friend mentioned the port so I asked the oncology nurse about it, and she said it could well be the best option for me. She has put me on the list to get it fitted but the wait could be several weeks. No problem if I change my mind before then.
it definitely is worth asking the questions at each stage, rather than just accepting the normal one size fits all approach.
Its all been said in previous posts but PORT every time for me. I spoke to a lady on the chemo unit who had had both and she was so pro PORT that I followed her cracking advice and never regretted it. The small scar I now have where the PORT was is my 'war wound'!
The only downside I came across (and its not one that PICC would do any better with) is that when you're having contrast with scans that if you don't have a powerport (mine was) then the PORT can't be used to administer this so you'll need to be cannulated up, also if your hospital is useless (like mine was) the scanning dept may refuse to use the PORT for contrast anyway as they haven't had the appropriate (special) training. But despite this still a winner from me!
Thanks Sam, That sums it up well and confirms my decision. I’m booked for port fitting, unfortunately not until 10th November, which is after my first chemo treatment (though still no start date, but likely to be in next 2 weeks) so will have that through cannula.
