It's always something, Part 2

During last week's chemo, the nurses had a hard time finding a vein in Mike's arm. Chemo tends to fry the veins, they tell us. And then to make things worse, toward the end, he had an "infiltration." Basically the needle popped out of the vein, and his arm swelled up like a beach ball.

His doctor said it's time for a port. This is basically a device attached to a blood vessel just below the collar bone. It's implanted under the skin and allows the nurses direct access to a vein. No more poking around. No more chances of infiltration.

So on Wednesday, Mike is having outpatient surgery. He'll be all loopy that day, but it's a pretty quick procedure and he's expected to be fine. And the next chemo should be a breeze...