Right for the jugular

If anyone had told me, before the procedure, that 1) I would be AWAKE the entire time, and 2) they were going to cut into that big vein in my neck, otherwise known as the jugular, and feed the catheter through that, well, I would have probably been pretty freaked! But I made it through. The port is in.

I still am not completely clear about how exactly they got it in there, but, seeing that I was awake the whole time (with a local and a mild sedative), I could feel Dr. E. poking and tugging and pulling. I was lying in the room with an x-ray machine above me, which I guess helped with finding the right veins and getting the port in the right position. There were times when Dr. E. (probably THE most unfriendly guy in the world) asked me to hold my breath. I kept trying to ask him what he was doing, but his answers were curt and not informative at all. Near the end, he dropped something and we had to wait for an assistant to get him another one (not sure what it was, but I made a joke about how I guess there wasn't a five-second rule in the O.R., and he didn't even chuckle. I mean, come on. It was a little funny, especially for someone who was cut open and mildly sedated!) And then when he was done, someone came in to look, and Dr. E. said something about how he wasn't happy with the finish. The other person said it was fine, but Dr. E. said, Yeah, but I'm real meticulous. Gulp. Because it's totally covered in bandages right now, I don't know what the finish looks like. I'm praying that it's fine, and that, in addition to being a humorless dud, Dr. E. is also an unrelenting perfectionist, always critical of his own work. Or that he was referring to something else, like the patina of his salad bowl, or the people of Finland. I'll let you know in a couple of days.

Anyway, the area between my neck and under my collarbone is pretty painful, but it seems to be getting better. I'm glad this little procedure is behind me, so I can focus my worries on Tuesday's treatment!