Port Flip Questions

[Dibley Dawn 84]

So, my port flipped over the weekend for no apparent reason. I am going in on Monday morning and he's going in through my old incision to flip it back over and restitch it. It sounds like no big deal but my question is....

a. how is the recovery from this thing? I mean, I'm planning on going back to work the next day and just don't know if I will be in too much pain or not.

b. is it painful under general anesthesia? he's not putting me under, just doing a local I guess, so I'll be awake during the procedure

c. anything else I should know?

I hate needles and just getting the IV for the CAT scan to figure out what had happened was stupidly painful. they can never find a vein, so they poke me 10 times before they decide they have to go in through my wrist or my hand...meanwhile, my arm is full of holes.

anyway, i'm just a little bit nervous as my DH has to work that day so I'll be on my own at the hospital and taking a cab home. will this be doable? or should i ask him to take the day off to be with me.

[DaBlockzPRbabii 30]

Sorry dont have any answers foe tou but i was wondering if you could feel the actual port flipping??

[Dibley Dawn 84]

I am back to answer my own questions, just in case anyone needs to know them.

first of all, I will say, I didn't feel the port flip. I just woke up in pain and knew something was wrong.

a. how is the recovery from this thing? I mean, I'm planning on going back to work the next day and just don't know if I will be in too much pain or not.

ok..recovery, i'm finding out, is much like the original surgery. I did NOT go back to work the next day as I was in a lot of pain from the incision. I had to take it very slow, getting up, sitting down, laying on my back instead of my side, etc... I am still healing and can't really pick up heavy objects for a while. I am healing a little faster with this one. I don't know if it's because I am so much lighter this time around, but I was able to come back to work for a half day the 2nd day after my surgery. the first time around, it took me about 5 days before I could really move around well enough to take public transit to get to work.

b. is it painful under general anesthesia? he's not putting me under, just doing a local I guess, so I'll be awake during the procedure

i didn't feel a thing. i was awake and the procedure itself was quick (after a long day of waiting around in the hospital) i think it took about 15 minutes max. I was drugged, but awake during the procedure and able to talk and joke with the other doctors and nurses in the room.

c. anything else I should know?

i know now that port flipping is not fun. i hope it never happens again because i don't know if i can go through the mental trauma of it. but it happened, so i dealt with it.

love moves on and so do I

[missjoli 0]

Thanks for the info. I'm wondering if my port flipped? I feel like my stomach is poking out, and it's kind of sore when something touches it where my port is (out of the blue). I play on a kickball team and do a fitness boot camp so I'm wondering if somehow I did it exercising? I'm not sure that's what I've done, but I go to the doc tomorrow and it seems like this is fairly common. I'm really nervous now about needing another surgery.

[Dibley Dawn 84]

The feeling I had was almost like a pulled muscle, but in my belly button area. it was really uncomfortable to bend over or go from a reclining position to a standing position.

the nurse practitioner had NO idea what was wrong and sent me for a bunch of needless random tests. I kept telling her "i think my port flipped" but she acted like that was something that had never happened in the history of their practice..

the next day when i went back to get the "inconclusive" results of my CAT scans, the doctors came and and said "well, i can tell you in 2 seconds if it has flipped." he tried to give me a fill and the needled just scraped the surface of the back of the port and he knew it had flipped.

i'm still a teensy bit sore in the area and the swelling has almost completely gone (Monday will be 4 weeks, so I guess it's normal). I was advised no exercise or lifting of anything over 10 pounds for 4 weeks and I have really stuck to that. I do NOT want to go through this again if I can help it....though, since i don't know how the thing flipped in the first place, i don't know if i can help it or not.

[whires 0]

Thank you for this info. I went to get a fill yesterday and my doctor kept hitting metal. It was not the best feeling in the world. I go next week to have mine flipped back. I'm glad to know I'm not the only one this has happened to.

[pcosmommyof4 13]

I am curious how has your band been since you had your port fixed fixed. I have to have mine fixed next week.