It's a bird, it's a plane, it's...

Power Port!

The patient discharge packet I was given yesterday shows a photo of my new best friend (sorry any of you who thought you owned that title), Power Port. Imagine a plastic triangular device with a soft middle and you pretty much know what is now happily embedded in my chest. The photo on the discharge packet makes it appear to be some sort of alien life form with two beady eyes and a long white tail! Guess it is somewhat alien, or foreign, to my bod. The device is made by BARD. Wonder if it will do anything to improve my poetic abilities. Yes, I am still very bitter about not winning Jurgen Gothe's limerick contest some years back. He asked listeners of his now defunct CBC Radio program Disc Drive to compose a limerick containing the words canine, eggplant, queezy, extension, and froth. The "winner" was something he literally pulled from a hat and when he read it on air, it made absolutely no sense whatsoever even though Jurgen read it with a Glasgow lilt as per the author's instructions. Did I mention I was bitter? Since I was robbed of my rightful glory, I will now self-publish my far superior submission to the aforementioned competition. (Insert sound of throat clearing here.)

Noel was decidedly queezy
After eggplant saucy and cheesy
The cook failed to mention
The recipe extension
Froth with canine spittle and sneezies

But I digress. Anyone sufficiently interested in the finer details of the Power Port and its wonderous Groshong catheter can look up the bumph on the following URL        http://www.powerportadvantage.com/clinicians.html

While I was recovering from the port insertion, I was offered a peanut butter sandwich! Can't believe in this day and age that a hospital is issuing peanut butter sandwiches when it bans the use of perfume, cigarette smoking, and other stuff that is harmful to a wide segment of the population. More unbelievable considering I mentioned my nut allergy when asked for my long list of sensitivities - yeah, I know they meant penicillin, latex, and the like, but for some reason I always mention the nut thing, too. Thank goodness I had my epi pen along for the ride. I opted for the dried out processed cheese slice on gummy brown bread - it was the only other thing available in the cath lab and I hadn't eaten for nearly 16 hours so chocked it down. Yup, I'm still working on getting VCH to change its food supplier, or get the food supplier to supply some actual food to hospital patients. Good thing I can't hold my breath, eh?

Photo of REAL cheese that I made at a workshop at UBC Farm. It's a ricotta with dried bell peppers and garlic. Yum!

As for the MUGA scan, it went very well. Shot of tin, waited for about 1/2 hour, shot of isotope, scan, done. Easy peasy. Sadly, Hershel was off yesterday. Apparently he did a lot of bragging about having a planet named with the same name after our previous meetings.

Spent the night at Donna's as a precaution. Came home today. Am feeling pretty much "normal" now with exception of tenderness around the incision site on my chest. Couldn't be happier as I had arranged to visit Roz and some other friends in the States for the weekend. It's the group of spinners/knitters who usually meet at Vashon Island every March. I couldn't go this year, and also missed St Distaff's Day in Jan, so really wanted to see everyone this time. Looking forward to it.