Port removal?

[BarclayBanister]

When are ports usually removed following chemo. I had a nurse friend tell me I should wait a year just to be safe. Do they keep them in that long?

[gilly6993]

I had mine out a month after chemo....

[Wesmom]

My son completed Chemo on October 12th. His port was removed on December 3rd.

[Elliott]

They would keep them in that long if you were actively undergoing treatment. If you have had an ALL Clear then there is no reason the port could not be removed. J has had a picc line 3 times, an apheresis CVC, and 3 CVC's, all of these were removed promptly after treatment because they are a HUGE source for infection and should not be kept longer than necessary.

[BarclayBanister]

Kind of what I was thinking. I suppose I've gotten 1 ALL CLEAR---my post chemo Ct Scan and bloodwork was all normal if that constitutes an "all clear." Plus I had a blood clot caused by the damn thing

[Davepet]

My last bleo was 4-6-10 & had the port out 5-3-10, However, they took it out earlier than they wanted to, because I also had a clot form & we hoped it would dissolve more quickly without the port.

That hasn't worked so well, I'm still on warfarin as I type this.

I also heard that it is not unheard of to keep the port in for a year or more, just in case things go south, so each of us has to decide, I guess...

Dave

[starjayroman]

Jay has a Power Port that he had implanted under the skin in 2009 before he started his salvage chemo. He didn't have a port put in during his first chemo and wished that he had. When he went through his stem cell transplant/high dose chemo they also put in a CVC. The CVC was in for several months the first one they took out after a month because it wasn't in the right place, the second one they took out about a month after his stem cell transplant. He still has his powerport, he can keep that in indefinetly if he wants he just needs to have it flushed every 28 days. He has chosen to keep it in for now because they cannot find a vein on him to stick anymore ever. When he as in the hospital and they needed to find a vein to put another line in him one time they had to use ultrasound to find it.