Risks of NOT doing Fluero?

[Daisalana 33]

The past 2 fills, I go to my doctor's office first (who I have pre-paid fills, so it's free).. And these past 2 times, he's poked and poked till I was purple in the face and body shaking from holding my legs up to tighten my stomach, yadda yadda.. So he sends me to the hospital to do it under fluero.

Well I noticed this last time, they were poking all over inside my scar, and when it was actually hit under the x-ray, they went in from about 2 inches below the scar. They said my port tilted a little.

So, insurance finally caught up to me, and said they are NOT paying for the hospital visits to get the fluero. So I have 2 bills already.

My next fill is coming up, and since my insurance isn't paying for it, I'm going to ask my doctor to just keep poking and prodding and try to get it without x-ray.

Is this a risky thing to do? Since it's tilted and they have a hard time getting it, does that mean there are chances they'll accidentally poke the wrong thing and either cause internal damages to my body and/or mess up the tubing on my port?

I don't want to be pushy about him not doing it under x-ray if it can cause me to have risks of damages.

Any info?

[faithmd 14]

The likelihood of causing internal injuries to your organs are slim considering the size of the needle and the depth it would take to get into your peritoneal cavity (abdomen). But there certainly is a larger risk to hitting the tubing. That's one of the possibilities whether it is a hard port to access or not.

[bkgrandma 0]

I'm like that and they poked a hole in mine and I had to have it replaced. Be careful.

[BreadLady 0]

I'm wondering how much experience your doctor has in fills. I have had 2 fills and my doctor gets is right the first prick of the needle. No fluoro for me. I like to stay away from x-rays as much as I can anyway so I am glad my doctor doesn't do them this way.

You may want to subtly see if there is someone else with a bit more experience with fills. Just a thought. :guess

I am sure there are plenty of others on this site with much more experience than me that can help more.

Best of luck to you.

[kacee 3]

It is very typical for ports to start moving around as you lose weight. When I got my fill day before yesterday, the nurse said, "Hmm...you are wobbley, but you haven't gone into Loosey Goosey yet...." I think that's where the rubber meets the road, so to speak...you separate the men from the boys....those who are fill experts from those who are not.

[bkgrandma 0]

My problem was a lot of scar tissue surrounding the port. Linda