I am Arjun Jain

The port that was inside my chest…

On Monday, June 24^th, I went to the hospital to meet the surgeon who would do the surgery to take my port out. He said that it will be quick and I will be out of the hospital within few hours. The only thing I did not like was that the surgery is scheduled for afternoon at 2 pm which means I will have to stay hungry from midnight till after surgery. But I was happy that it was really happening. My blood work showed my ANC was lower than 750 but I was hoping that it will go up by Thursday so that I can start my Maintenance Phase.

Finally, on June 27^th,  the day came when I was about to get this port out. I took the shower with antibacterial soap the night before and next morning and was all ready to go to hospital for my surgery. The only thing was that it was only 10am and I was already starving. We went to the hospital and waiting for the blood work results to come back. I was a little disappointed because my ANC went down even more to 260 which meant that I could not start my maintenance phase but I can still get the surgery done.

They called us to the surgery unit at 11:30am because they had the opening and might take me by 12 pm . But then we waited and waited and waited and waited until 3:45pm before the doctor came to talk to us and then the nurse came to take me to the OR. I was getting restless and cranky by the minute because I was so hungry and thirsty. The nurse said that there was an emergency case that caused the delay in my surgery.  But finally I was in the OR and my parents in the waiting room. I came back out at around 4:50pm in the recovery room with my parents by my side. My mom told me that I was asleep for about 45 minutes before they started to wake me up and it took me some time to feel better and open my eyes fully. I ate some lemon ice which made me feel little better.  I had to go in the wheelchair to the car because I had no energy to walk and I was still dizzy. When I reached home, I had to eat my Samosas and that felt good.  My dad showed me the port that was inside me and I could not believe it when I took that in my hand. I was allowed to do anything and everything and no restrictions for anything.

It was sore for few days and then it started to feel better by the weekend. I rode my bike first time after a long time and felt so good. I wasn’t even tired doing that. Played outside with my brother that surely made him happy!  Now I had to go to hospital next week for the blood work to get my chemo started. I knew I was a step closer to getting back on the ice!