Mediport horror - Cancer: Lung Message Board

morphiii · 10-25-2007, 04:27 PM

My dad was diagnosed with small cell lung cancer 3 months back and subsequent MRI has shown that the cancer has spread to his brain. He underwent whole brain radiation for 12 sessions. That in itself was a nightmare, the doctors prescribed him an overdose of steroid, dexamethasone ( which supposedly help to keep the inflamations down when he is undergoing radiation ).

He got really sick from it, nausea, vomiting and fungal infection. He had to stay in the hospital for a week from all the side effects. They finally cut the dosage down and he was able to go through the radiation treatment successfully.

He then started chemo. The first session was about a month ago. Incidentally, the day he was supposed to get his first chemo. they found an abscess in his butt cheeks. He was hospitalized again. The abscess was drained and he was given antibiotics. The first 3 sessions of chemo. went fine. He did vomit or experience any nausea, which is surprising.

He got his forth session yesterday and today was suppose to get his mediport done and get his fifth session of chemo. He went into surgery at 6:30 am and the surgery didn't end till 3 p.m.

THe surgery had some complications that resulted in a 20% collapsed lung!!

What? I thought this was a small surgery!

Anyways now they are putting some tubes into his chest with a suction pump to pump out any excess air in the membrane surrounding the lung to reinflate it.

He has to stay in the hospital for the rest of the week, I think.

So I like to ask, what is a mediport and how does it work?

Please help.

carol1961 · 10-25-2007, 06:48 PM

Do you mean a Power port that they put in their chest to allow easy access for chemo and blood draws?

rockie · 10-25-2007, 07:54 PM

A port can sometimes be put in without anesthesia, however, personally, I would not recommend it. Bud, my late hubby, had his put in in January 2006His veins had endured almost a year of chemo and were collapsing.

The port should (when working properly) be able to take the chemo AND give a blood return for the blood-work they usually do on treatment day or when necessary. My husband had a return 3 times and then it stopped. Eventually, his port got very infected. They cleared it up. We went camping in April of 2006 and as always, I proceeded to clean his port for him when I saw something white. I thought to myself, "Great! A pocket of infection has formed". Then, I realized the white was hard...and it was plastic. I freaked. I knew it was his port coming out. So, from my cell phone, I called the oncology office and asked them if I should rush him back from out of town or what. They said to just keep it clean and covered and they would see him that Monday (this was a Sat). My hubby had ABSOLUTELY refused to return to Evansville as that weekend was the first time that he could actually get out and felt half-way decent. Bottom line, come Monday, I took him in and the doctor said he had to remove the port immediately. The body had rejected it. So there are horror stories involving mediports.

Bud also had a partially collapsed lung after they did the fine-needle biopsy (February 2005). the dumb butts at the VA hospital in St Louis gave him a battery of lung capacity breathing tests just about an hour or two after the biopsy, and THAT was what collapsed his lung. GRRRRR......

I know it's not great news, but that was our xp with a mediport.

Take care and I will keep praying for everyone here and I hope your dad will recover quickly.

Peace,
Jan

morphiii · 10-25-2007, 08:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rockie

A port can sometimes be put in without anesthesia, however, personally, I would not recommend it. Bud, my late hubby, had his put in in January 2006His veins had endured almost a year of chemo and were collapsing.

The port should (when working properly) be able to take the chemo AND give a blood return for the blood-work they usually do on treatment day or when necessary. My husband had a return 3 times and then it stopped. Eventually, his port got very infected. They cleared it up. We went camping in April of 2006 and as always, I proceeded to clean his port for him when I saw something white. I thought to myself, "Great! A pocket of infection has formed". Then, I realized the white was hard...and it was plastic. I freaked. I knew it was his port coming out. So, from my cell phone, I called the oncology office and asked them if I should rush him back from out of town or what. They said to just keep it clean and covered and they would see him that Monday (this was a Sat). My hubby had ABSOLUTELY refused to return to Evansville as that weekend was the first time that he could actually get out and felt half-way decent. Bottom line, come Monday, I took him in and the doctor said he had to remove the port immediately. The body had rejected it. So there are horror stories involving mediports.

Bud also had a partially collapsed lung after they did the fine-needle biopsy (February 2005). the dumb butts at the VA hospital in St Louis gave him a battery of lung capacity breathing tests just about an hour or two after the biopsy, and THAT was what collapsed his lung. GRRRRR......

I know it's not great news, but that was our xp with a mediport.

Take care and I will keep praying for everyone here and I hope your dad will recover quickly.

Peace,
Jan

Thanks Jan for your kind words. I just hope the collapsed lung don't get any worse tomorrow. The oncology doc. came and visited my dad around 7p.m and was absolutely furious at the vascular surgery team. They really messed it up and she apologized profusely.

My poor dad, he aws feeling fine and tolerating chemo. well and due to the stupidity or ignorance of some doc. he had to endure some unnecessary hardship.