Well, first of all, it never occurred to me to ask my Dr to place my port on the right side. She always does the left side so I figured go with what is normal for her. That could have been a mistake.

In the hospital:

Right hand/arm:

- IV catheter- if you're left handed they place your IV catheter on your right hand. Mine was on the back of my hand, not up towards the wrist.

- the oxygen (pulse oximeter?) thing was taped to my 2nd finger on the right hand.

Left hand/arm:

- blood pressure cuff on upper arm (all night!!)

Port/incisions:

Left side: most painful side, port site, excrutiating pain on the left side when raising up, lying down, trying to use left arm to prop or move myself

Rigt side: fine, almost no pain, wouldn't even know I had surgery on that side of my body, can barely feel where incision is; easy to use right arm to prop or move or pull myself up

So here's the lefty dilemma: one of the worst pains I had was trying to wipe after going to the bathroom. Of course I use my left hand normally but bending over that way was terrible pain! I had no choice but to use my right hand (not an easy task on a normal day!!). It was hard to lean back on teh seat since they have that cup right there to measure all your output....so I learned how to stand/crouch and wipe with my right hand.

Remember that IV cath & thing taped to my finger all on that right hand? Uh huh, that added to the difficulty level. And I was peeing like every 2 hrs at least.

And during that time & ever since the left side & shoulder are still the most painful. If the port was placed on the right side would all of these issues be resolved? Woudl I still have left shoulder pain? Should I have asked for the IV cath & oxygen thing to be put on my left hand?

Just somethign to think about if you happen to be reading all this before your surgery :wub:

I have often wondered why they put the port on the right side for a right handed person. I had the same "bathroom" problem - it was really hard and hurt a lot! I wish I had thought about it ahead of time and had it put on the left side.