How to Numb Your Port

When I went through breast cancer treatment, a friend on Facebook said, “Remember to numb your port.” Huh? What?

I had no idea what she was talking about.

What Is a Port? How Does It Work?

First, I needed to understand what a port was and how it worked.

From Breast Cancer.Org:

“A port is a small disc made of plastic or metal about the size of a quarter that sits just under the skin. A soft thin tube called a catheter connects the port to a large vein. Your chemotherapy medicines are given through a special needle that fits right into the port. You also can have blood drawn through the port. When all your cycles of chemotherapy are done, the port is removed during another short outpatient procedure.”

I knew the port helped deliver chemo drugs, but what would it feel like? How would that happen?

Getting the Port Accessed

Each time I went in for an infusion, my port was accessed. This meant I sat in line waiting for a technician. That was the longest part. Then, my port was accessed by a highly trained lab technician. She or he did this all-day long. And that’s the way I wanted it. I always want someone working on me that’s done that procedure thousands of times.

I sat down in the patient chair. After a brief confirmation of my info, the tech pulled out a sterilized package of materials she used only on me. Face mask, gloves, syringe, saline and tubey-thing with a needle that attaches to the port. (I told you I wasn’t a doctor.)

The way the tech inserted the tubey-thing was by jabbing it into my port. There’s no better way to say. That’s how they access it. It felt like a weird, quick pressure on top of my skin and the port. But mostly, I didn’t feel it because…

Numb Your Port

I numbed my port before every infusion day. Thank goodness for my friend on Facebook. Otherwise, I never would have known to do this.

When I instant messeged her on Facebook , she said,

“Ask your doctor for a lidocaine lotion prescription. You can numb your port with this.”

On my next visit, I asked. The Physician’s Assistant promptly put in the order online. Then, she explained the lotion was to put on the port site about 1-1.5 hours before being accessed on infusion day.

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With all the things I suggest on this blog, check with your care team and your gut to see if it’s right for you.

These are the steps I took to numb my port.

8 Steps to Numb Your Port

1. Wear a button-down shirt
2. WASH HANDS
3. Prep materials
   1. Lidocaine cream, open and ready to squeeze
   2. Cotton swabs
   3. Square of plastic wrap to cover the lidocaine and port once swabbed
   4. Cut first-aid tape, 2-4 strips, to keep plastic wrap in place
4. WASH HANDS – #1 thing when dealing with a port is hygiene and sterility. I took no chances. I even wore a mask when the tech accessed my port.
5. Take lidocaine in one hand. Cotton swabs in the other.
6. Squeeze lidocaine on cotton swabs. Rub on port side. Repeat until the top, sides and a ½ inch radius is covered. I always overcompensated.
7. Cover with the plastic wrap.
8. Use first aid tape to secure edges of the plastic wrap. Keeps lidocaine on the skin and not on clothes.

Let the numbing begin!

For me, numbing my port made getting it accessed virtually painless. Also, all the extra safety precautions worked. I went through chemo infection free.

Hope this helps you or someone you love.

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[Images sourced at Pixabay is not my own.]