CVL vs. Port

[Natasha Bear]

Hey Guys!

So I thought it was important to talk about the differences between a CVL and a port.  When I was receiving treatment, I had a CVL, or a central venous line.  I had a CVL instead of a port because my chemo meds were corrosive. a CVL, its basically a tube going from your heart that comes out of the center of your chest. Mine had two imput tubes going from the central tube.  This made it a lot easier to receive chemo and different medicines because they didnt have to give me an IV every time.  However, it does require a lot of maintenance   Since it is an open wound, dressings are placed over the site to decrease the risk of infection.  :This dressing needs to be changed 2-3 times a week, and you cannot go swimming or get the site wet.  It is difficult, but you get used to it after a while. I just got used to taking baths instead of showers.  

A port is different in the sense that it is near the clavicle bone (from what I have seen) and it requires a prick each time a medicine is given.  I don't know as much about ports because I did not have one, but I know that you can swim with a port because it is under the skin, while you cannot with a CVL because it is open.

If anyone has a port, what is it like?  Thanks!

[Natasha Bear]

My friend had a port and she wears it as a necklace all the time!  It actually looks like a modern art pendant, pretty cool :)

[Elizabeth Allen]

Definitely a cool souvenir, haha! I thought I was the only one who had kept my port (or CVL or Broviac), but I'm glad to see that I'm not! I had mine put on a chain so I wear it as a necklace. It looks like a really interesting charm, haha, I actually get a lot of compliments on it.

[Jennifer Toth]

Elizabeth, I totally appreciated your comment about keeping your port! I still have my Broviac (I guess my parents asked to keep it since I was too little to care at the time), but I didn't realize other people kept their ports and lines, too. I think it's a cool "souvenir" from treatment :) 

[Elizabeth Allen]

I also had a port when I was going through treatment, and I had essentially the same experiences that Kane, Allison, and Lisa mentioned. Just like Allison, I also asked the surgeon to keep my port after it was removed. I remember how he just laughed when I asked him, but I still have it today! I also still have some scars on my chest where the port was (just from the surgery, not from needle pricks) that have faded over time, but were pretty ugly when the port first got taken out. My badges of courage, I suppose =) Conversation starter, too, if they're visible.

I don't know if this happened to you Allison, haha, but I remember for the longest time after my port got taken out, I experienced "ghost port," kind of like the phantom limb experience that people have when a limb is amputated. It was the weirdest feeling; for a long time, I also would feel little aches in the spot where was port was, just as if the port was there itself.

For me, though, having a port was definitely worth it, even if it was a little bit of pain sometimes. The idea of having a needle stuck in my chest was a little scary, but with the numbing cream emla I usually didn't feel anything. I, too, think having the port affected my posture for awhile; it did kind of hurt when someone knocked it by accident, so I sometimes shied away from hugs from family and friends (as sad as that sounds). I also remember that I couldn't play contact sports, which was a big deal for me since I played soccer. Again, though, definitely worth it. You couldn't even tell it was there unless you wore a tight shirt (you'd see a bump) or a low-cut shirt.

[Natasha Bear]

Thanks everyone! Great to learn all this!

[Lisa]

Hi Natasha,

My son had a port when he was going through treatment. I would have to agree with everything that Allison and Kane said.  The difference for me was that I had a two year old at the time.  Despite the needle stick to access the port each time, it was our saving grace. I have no idea how we could have ever gotten through weekly treatment, 10 transfusions, blood draws, and MRIs without it.  I still miss it when MRIs are due now. Because it wasn't me, I can't comment on how painful it was or wasn't to access.  However, I will say that in all honesty the most difficult part for us was getting the emla numbing cream and dressing on in preparation for port access.  Once we got by that, we were ok.  My son really tolerated the actual stick fine as long as he was able to watch a couple of minutes of good old Curious George.  I had to smile reading Jennifer's response to this because it sounds just like my son.  To this day, he refuses band aids of any sort.  Just can't stand the tape.  He will occasionally ask me about his port and what it was for.  I guess in many ways it is such a matter of perspective. He is very accepting that the medicine he needed when he was small needed to be given via his port.  So, from my standpoint ports rank right up there as one of the best medical advances we have.

 

Have a great night, Lisa

[Allison DeSoto]

A CVL sounds like a pain in the butt!  I can't even imagine!  Ports are awesome!  Other than getting used to them initially, they're no big deal.  It looks kind of weird if the skin on top of it is thin because then there is just a weird lump above your boob that people notice and ask about. lol But I am sooo thankful for my port.  It didn't hurt when the nurses accessed it correctly (I usually had only my nurse Debbie access it because I only trusted her to do it correctly, kinda hurt/was uncomfortable if anyone else did it) also because there was numbing gel used beforehand.  If a seatbelt rubbed against it or if it was hit or moved it was uncomfortable, which actually happened often, especially when my little cousins would tackle me haha so I was very protective of it and I think it affected my posture a little because I would hunch to shield it.  But I wouldn't have wanted to have anything else (:!  The doctors gave me mine to keep after they took it out so I still have it. (:  I noticed though that when I went to get MRI's or CT scans or just went to other doctor's offices, that a lot of the nurses or doctors weren't exposed to them and didn't really even know what to do, which gave me a lot of anxiety!!!  For example, when I went to get a CT scan a nurse thought it was a feeding tube...I was like are you serious right now? -___- lmao

[Kane Weinberg]

I have a port and everything you've said about them is correct. Mine is about 3 inches under the clavicle bone and protrudes out just a millimeter or two. The circumference is comparable to a dime and it's pretty much maintenance-free. It leads into one of the main heart vessels and other than getting poked with a needle each time it is accessed, you don't even know it's there.

[Jennifer Toth]

I also had a central line rather than a port. I don't remember a lot of my treatment since I was so young, but I do remember how much I hated when my parents would have to change the dressing and how awful the sticky tape was. I've learned a little bit about ports, but I'd love to hear more about people's experiences with them!