What's a mediport and has anyone had experience with it?

Hi -

 My husband just got off the phone from someone at the hospital and told him he has an appointment with a Dr. this Friday to put a mediport on him?  Is this for the chemo?  Has anyone had this done or is currently on it?  Please help?

Thank you

My husband has a mediport and uses it for chemo.  It is a device implanted under the skin (My husbands is just below his right collarbone). He gets his chemo in the mediport.  That way they don't have to find a vein each time he gets chemo so it is much better.  They just poke a needle thru and attach to the mediport.  Reminds of pierced ears.  You can't really see the hole but when you go to put in earrings it's there.

You can see a slight bulge and feel a slight bulge when you run your fingers across the skin but it is not bad and really really helps when they administer chemo or other drugs.  When my husband was in the hospital they were able to put all his drugs using it instead of shots.  When he got dehydrated home health came out and used it to give him iv fluids.  So it can be used for other than just chemo.  Hope this helps.  He is put to sleep for the procedure to insert it and is painless.

I just had one installed about 4 weeks ago for chemo treatments.  They sedated me but did not put me out.  It is alot better than a groshon catheter that I had before.  It's a pretty standard procedure, he shouldnt have any problems. They make two incisions one is pretty small and the other is about 1 inch.  Hope this helps.

Jeff

My husband had the power port put in 2 weeks ago. They run the chemo drugs through it, take his weekly and monthly blood draws and use it for the CT/PET contrasts.

It really  is a God send since his veins are shot and every IV meant excruciating pain for him.

Memee4816

I had one for about seven months last year, while doing the Folfox routine.  It truly is a godsend, given the difficulties many people have with collapsed veins, etc.  I just thought of it as my little docking station, it makes it easy for blood testing and the many different shots of liquids that prepare your body for the chemotherapy.  

You didn't mention whether your husband was going to have the pump to wear overnight.  I hauled that little jerk around for 48 hours every two weeks for six months.  Got to where it was not my friend, because I grew sick of the little buzzes and clicks at night, and the tubing kept getting caught on things around the house as I became more accustomed to dragging it around.  If your husband is going to wear the pump as many of us do, I can't imagine having the infusion any other way than through a port.  I really don't think he'd want the typical vein infusion taped to various parts of himself, the port made the pump palatable.  The only trick is that you need to remember to have him shave the area of skin under which the port is placed (in my case above my left breast).  The tubing and needle arrangement works great, but it is held in place with really sticky tape and that's no fun when it is removed...if there is hair there.

They can generally draw blood through the port, so you don't have additional needle sticks for that.  I'd say that generally a port is our friend.  Some people don't like having theirs taken out, even, because they feel like they've grown a new buddy.  But they need to be flushed fairly frequently if you aren't taking chemotherapy through them, so I was just as happy to get mine removed when I was done.

On 6/14/2007 Wlmarkc wrote:

I had one for about seven months last year, while doing the Folfox routine.  It truly is a godsend, given the difficulties many people have with collapsed veins, etc.  I just thought of it as my little docking station, it makes it easy for blood testing and the many different shots of liquids that prepare your body for the chemotherapy.  

You didn't mention whether your husband was going to have the pump to wear overnight.  I hauled that little jerk around for 48 hours every two weeks for six months.  Got to where it was not my friend, because I grew sick of the little buzzes and clicks at night, and the tubing kept getting caught on things around the house as I became more accustomed to dragging it around.  If your husband is going to wear the pump as many of us do, I can't imagine having the infusion any other way than through a port.  I really don't think he'd want the typical vein infusion taped to various parts of himself, the port made the pump palatable.  The only trick is that you need to remember to have him shave the area of skin under which the port is placed (in my case above my left breast).  The tubing and needle arrangement works great, but it is held in place with really sticky tape and that's no fun when it is removed...if there is hair there.

They can generally draw blood through the port, so you don't have additional needle sticks for that.  I'd say that generally a port is our friend.  Some people don't like having theirs taken out, even, because they feel like they've grown a new buddy.  But they need to be flushed fairly frequently if you aren't taking chemotherapy through them, so I was just as happy to get mine removed when I was done.

 

HI,

I'm not sure yet if my husband will be wearing a pump. I'm not familiar with the chemo treatments yet.  They will put the port tomorrow to have him prepared for his chemo.  We will be meetin with the oncologist on Monday to go over this chemo treatment.  So you mean if you have a pump, it's something that's they connect to your port?  Can you take the pump out when you take a shower?

After 4 years my reply is obviously unhelpful to the originator of this question.  In the hope that others might be interested in the answer I'm responding.

First, a mediport is a device usually implanted by a vascular surgeon within a patients chest.  There is plenty of information available online describing what a mediport is and its purpose.  So I'll confine my remarks to my own experience with the mediport.

FANTASTIC!  I was diagnosed with esophageal cancer and knew the treatment I was to undergo required extensive use of chemotherapy, radiation and surgery.  I spent 45 days in a hospital over a three month period.  My mediport saved me from receiving umpteen needle sticks as medical personnel administered drugs and drew blood for analysis.  The mediport made receiving IV's easy and as I said, allows for your blood to be drawn without additional needle sticks.  HOORAY for mediports!

I had a port installed about 7 weeks ago and have taken 6 chemo treatments. The port insertion is a piece of cake, done in outpatient status. They will give him an injected sedative that will not put him to sleep just helps ignore pain. During the procedure he will feel pressure, but no pain. Be sure and tell the surgeon if he feels pain and he’ll get more “no sweat” stuff. Procedure takes about a half hour. Make sure someone is there to drive him home as the residual “no sweat” stuff will impair his judgment and senses for a few hours. At least it did mine.

Expect to feel pain in his neck and chest for a few days, not significant or strong, but he’ll know it’s there. I also had some bruising around the port. There will be two incision points: One in his neck where they insert the tube and one in his chest where they insert the port. The insertion pressure comes from the surgeon routing the tube from the artery to the port.

Then comes the first chemo. He will be apprehensive. But all he will feel is a slight prick…or in my case, “click” as they insert the chemo needle…actually its less pain than giving a blood sample. Then he will lay there awhile. Take something to do: book, laptop, snacks. I also take a light blanket as it tends to be cold in the room. He can get up and walk around, go to the bathroom, whatever if he needs to, just rolls the insertion pump around on a stand wherever he goes.