Sleepless in Seattle......NO....Portless in Honey Grove!!

On the first week of February, I had the this port placed in my body. It was a blessing. It prevented my veins from collapsing and I did not have to wait for an IV drip. The nurses were able to administer my chemotherapy and other drugs straight into my body through this port. It was in my chest and the tube went through the vena cava into my circulatory system.

Our good friend and sister, by choice, Kathy Clark, who you can see on a previous blog, called it my "man boob." For some reason the port always bothered me. (Not that I have anything against "man boobs, manzeers, or bros") It burned at unusual times, my blood pressure was always extremely low, and it was a constant reminder that I was fighting cancer. I wanted to return to an active lifestyle quickly and a medi-port in my body was an obstacle.

I thank God that I have a doctor, my oncologist, Dr. Wyzynsky, who will listen to his patients. After the good report from the scans and tests, I asked if could I have the medi-port removed. He reminded me that I would be having monthly medication and I was not in remission yet. I guess he could read my face because he then said, "We could take it out and if we need another one, we can put one in, right, Kevin Von?"

We made an appointment with the surgeon who "installed" the port. He looked at us and said that we should not remove it. I was not in remission and this type of cancer, in his experience, always came back. Ports weren't a big deal to live with and they certainly didn't cause problems with blood pressure. Thanks to my beautiful partner, Chris, who has walked every step of this battle with me, who said, "Our doctor said Kevin should have this taken out. He's had problems ever since you implanted this port. Have you ever had one of these in your body?" Well, needless to say, the port's out! The moral of the story is..............DON'T CROSS MY WIFE!

If I need another medi-port at a later time, I will get another one! In the meantime, the following slightly used port will be for sale. You can stop by and look at it at anytime. I can't list it on e-bay, because it's classified as a biohazard. I also spsort a "sweet" scar, that I will tell everyone on the beach, is from:

A) Knife wound from saving an elderly woman from a mugger, or

B) Removing a bullet from my chest in battle, by myself, or

C) Misjudging the basket while dunking, and cut my chest on the rim?

I am trying to bring humor to all of this, but I cannot praise Chris enough for all of the things she has done for me the last 9 months. She is the most loving, beautiful, and unselfish woman in the world. She prays with me, holds me, chauffers me as my driver, lets me cry when needed, holds my hand while suffering and my head while puking, lets me be honest about the pain, dresses me, pulls me out of "the cave" when I'm down, laughs with me at highly inappropriate times (like when I learned what a catheter was!!), and always reminds me that we can beat this.

I love you, Christine Dawn!

(This is Chris & me in Colorado this summer!)