Epic FAIL

I totally have my days messed up.

I forgot about the appointment that never happened in between my last visit with the FNP and my visit this Tuesday with the surgeon. My original appointment with the surgeon was Tuesday, April 20th. The appointment was at 11:30 so I arrived around 11. After sitting in the lobby for about an hour, I was told that the person with the 11am appointment hadn't even been seen yet. I couldn't wait too much longer because I had a 2pm meeting. So after about an hour and 1/2 of waiting - and not seeing the doctor - I had to reschedule.

Cut to this past Tuesday, April 27th. There I was bright and early for my 9am appointment with the surgeon. Now I haven't laid eyes on this man since I was in the recovery room on October 2, 2009 so I was pretty excited to get to see him. I arrived about 8:30 knowing full well that I was going to stay there until I saw him. I had taken the whole morning off to deal with this and if need be I would take the afternoon off as well!

When I checked in they informed me that Dr. Enochs was already running late and that it might be awhile. I sat in the lobby for about 45mins before they called me back to a room. I asked the nurse if he was there already and she said no. I told her that I would much prefer to wait in the lobby as there is a TV out there than to be stuck in a room with nothing to do. She then informed me that the PA was going to see me.

WHAT THE FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!! I had waited nearly 3 months for some resolution here and now I was going to be seeing the PA? I told them that I would be happy to see the PA but that I wasn't leaving until I saw Dr. Enochs no matter if I had to spend the night!

A different nurse came in and asked me all the standard questions. She told me that I should try a fill under fluoro. No ... really? That's what I've been trying to do for 2 months to no avail. She tried her best to calm me by telling me how good Brett (the PA) was at giving fills and that if anyone could hit my stubborn port it would be him. So off I went to the fluoro room. Drank the barium (again) to show that I still have no restriction (like it was going to magically appear with no fill) and waited for Brett.

Finally I meet the miraculous Brett. He then begins his 45mins of poking. Again with the lay down, sit down, stand up, lean this way, twist that way, tighten, relax. POKE POKE POKE! They even had me stand in the fluoro machine so they could see where the needle was when they were poking me. At one point he said to the nurse .. I think I am going to get the longer needle! Excuse me, those needles are already pretty long. He kept telling me that "this will be the last stick" but I swear it was never ending.

When he finally decided that he had had his fun he told me he was going to ask "the doctor to take a pass at it." I was interested to see if Dr. Enochs could hit this dastardly problematic port. But instead of my surgeon in walks a different surgeon - Dr. Bruce. So still no Dr. Enochs. At least Dr. Bruce was really nice but then he started stickin' me with needles!

After about another 15 mins, Dr. Bruce recommended that I have a port revision surgery. It was like angels from heaven shining down on me. He said the words I had been waiting to hear for nearly 3 months! If the damn thing is broken - please let's fix it! He said that if Dr. Enochs' schedule was too full and I was ok with it that he would do it himself.

So after 3 months and nearly 3 total hours of poking, I am scheduled for a port revision surgery on May 14th. This time they are going to sew it to some mesh to give it more stability when they sew it to my muscle wall. Please let it stay this time. I'm not sure I can go through any more appointments like the ones I've had lately.

And I know my stomach doesn't want to look like this anymore!


I've circled each pock mark to illustrate just how many times they tried to hit my port. The ones with the bruises are where they entered the same hole more than once and/or did a lot of dancing around once they had it in there.