Pros and Cons of Having A Port

Being told that you need a portacath (“port”) to safely undergo cancer treatment can be daunting to hear. Maybe you have other options such as external lines to consider, or maybe you don’t. But either way, in this post, I will discuss some of the pros and cons that I’ve experienced with having a port.

For those that don’t know, a port is a device that is put in surgically just under the skin, usually in the chest area, and connected to a large vein. Ports are generally used for harsh treatments such as chemotherapy to avoid damaging less robust veins such as those in the arm.

In my multiple fights with cancer, I have had two different types of ports. When I was first diagnosed, I used a single lumen port, which just meant that it has one access point. To my knowledge, this is generally enough for standard chemotherapy treatments.

When I had my bone marrow transplant, on the other hand, I was “upgraded” to a double lumen port. This meant that it had two access points. I needed two access points because I would be hooked up for a lot longer and had more going on at one time. For example, since I would be in the hospital for over a month, it made it a lot easier to be able to get a blood draw without interrupting my IV fluids or being poked in the arm. In fact, the featured photo for this post shows what this port looked like while it was accessed in the hospital!

While there are plenty more than five pros and five cons, I will keep this post trimmed down to what I feel are the most glaring points to make.

Pro #1: It saves your veins/arms

As I mentioned above, a port does a great job of protecting your veins. The whole point is to hook it up to a very robust vein so that the veins that would normally be used for access points for things like a blood draw (your arm, for example) don’t get ruined from chemotherapy.

Not to mention, you don’t need to get stabbed in the arm all the time. If you’ve ever had a vein blow, you know it isn’t fun. Having a port drastically reduces the chance of those arm veins blowing or bruising because you won’t need to have them used very often!

Pro #2: It keeps your hands and arms free

When I would be sitting in the hospital for long periods of time, it was REALLY annoying to have an IV sticking out of my arm. I had to be careful of how I bent it or if I moved it too fast or far. A port allows for total hands free-ness! Both arms are yours to play on your phone or write in your journal or whatever it is that you like to do during your infusions.

Pro #3: Relatively unnoticeable

This is a big pro for a lot of cancer patients. While I’ve mentioned countless times that being a cancer fighter is something to be proud of and not ashamed of, sometimes it is nice to not be asked by every person walking down the street what’s wrong with us because we have some external line sticking out of our chests. A port is wicked easy to cover up with clothing since it is just a small bump under the skin!

Pro #4: You don’t have to cover it when you shower

This was the biggest pro for me. I used to get really annoyed and discouraged when I would have stitches or something and would need to tape them up and worry about the site getting wet in the shower. Not to mention, if I felt like swimming I would not have been able to. I believe with any of the more permanent external lines that is an issue as well.

With a port, though, none of that is a problem because it is totally under the skin! I absolutely loved that aspect of the portacath. The only time you need to worry about that stuff with a port is right when it is put in (the stitches from the surgery), when it is accessed, or right after it is taken out (again, the stitches).

Pro #5: More freedom

Having a port actually allowed me to go home early when I otherwise would not have been able to. There was a point in time when I needed IV magnesium because my gut couldn’t handle the medication orally. Originally, I was sure that I would need to be in the hospital to get the IV version of it. However, because I had a port, I was able to have it accessed and then go home. It just required a little training on how to flush it out and hook it up to the magnesium!

Con #1: You still have to get poked

Yes, even though it saves your arms from being poked each time you need to get accessed, a port still does require you to get poked in the chest instead. This is of course different from a central line which is external and requires no poking at all.

However, combatting this was very simple as there are plenty of numbing creams out there that work like a charm, so I hardly ever felt the needle going in. If you forget to use the numbing cream in advance, ask the nurse to grab you an ice cube and put that over your port for a minute or two – it numbs the spot right up!

Con #2: Non-oncology folks are less familiar with them

This may or may not bother you depending on how often you’ll be accessed by which type of nurse. For me, it was not much of an issue. Generally, I was being accessed by nurses that were very familiar with ports. It was very simple and easy for the majority of them. However, the few times that I needed to go to the emergency room, the ER nurses had no clue what a port was.

So bonus tip here – know your port, and know the length of the needles that work best for it! It might just save you a huge headache.

I actually had to pull up a diagram of my port on Google to show one of the nurses what she was poking into. And thankfully I knew what size needle she needed to use too, because originally had she picked one that was way too long.

Con #3: Needs a bit of maintenance

When a port is accessed for a long time (i.e. when I was in for my bone marrow transplant), it needs to be flushed out once a week. When it is not accessed, it needs to be filled with an anticoagulant, generally heparin. This allows the port to rest for a longer period of time without needing to be flushed. However, even with the anticoagulant, it still needs to be flushed one a month.

This wasn’t a huge deal for my situation, however, because I was going in and out of the hospital more often than that anyway.

Con #4: risk of infection

As with anything going into your body, there is a risk of infection. A port is, in fact, an access point that is tied to a vein very close to the heart. That is why the maintenance and care mentioned in con #4 is so crucial. To put it into perspective, however, I have had ports for four years of my life and never had an infection because the proper care was followed.

Con #5: Requires surgery

Because the port goes inside the skin, gets tied to a muscle and connected to a vein in the chest, it requires surgery. Something that is mostly external to the body, like a PICC line (basically a longer lasting IV access) does not.

Overall, I was extremely happy that I had my ports. Being able to shower without taping a bag around the site was a big enough “pro” for me, and the rest of the pros were just extra. In fact, something that I have not mentioned is that when it came time to start thinking about having my ports removed, I was sort of attached to them (literally and figuratively).

When something is embedded in your chest for years, it sort of becomes a part of you. I had gotten used to feeling and seeing the bump. It was just part of who I was when I looked in the mirror. I started to like having it because it was a reminder that I was kicking the crap out of cancer! I actually got so attached to it that I ended up asking to take my first port home after they took it out.

Which brings me to a kind of pro/con hybrid: the scar.

Because this is surgically implanted, there will be a scar. It is a small scar, but it is nonetheless permanent. There are plenty of ways to make the scar smaller and fade it so that it is less noticeable, but quite honestly I did none of it. As I mentioned, my port was a part of me, and that scar is a mark of the toughest battles I’ve ever faced. And it reminds me every day of how strong I am.

I hope this pros and cons list helps some of you out there that are either about to undergo treatment or are currently in it! Whether you are using a port, a central line, or any other method of getting your treatments, I’d love to hear what your experiences are like!

As always, please feel free to reach out to me on my contact page if you have any questions, tips of your own, topics you would like to see covered, or just feel like chatting to someone that’s been through it. I am always here for you.

-Alex

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Featured image is one of my own!