Let's try starboard

Second day of chemo. Second day of nurses trying to get the newly installed port to work. It didn't. At least I had some Emla cream to apply this time - didn't feel the needle insertions until number three. Could only attempt the fourth and final attempt after an application of an ice bag over the port. In the end, we opted for one of the few remaining veins in the arm. Again. Dr. Wadge has notified VGH's cath lab. I should be heading back there in the next couple of days so they can determine what is going on - is the port turning? has it flipped completely around? Have my chest veins also packed it in? At least there will be alternatives should it be decided that I am simply not port material. Suspect they'll try a PICC line (peripherally inserted central catheter) next. If that fails, there is always the oral meds that are the back-up should the current two drugs prove ineffective. Good news: I had the foresight to pack my own lunch today - edamame salad, grapes, sesame wafers, and water. Such looked, and no doubt tasted, better than what the guy across from me was served. Interestingly, of the four of us in the room, he was the only one who accepted the lunch tray. And then he only ate the soup, dessert, and milk. Wonder what was the entree. Who cares, really? I'm back off to bed. Headache and general blah feeling. Makes me wonder all the more what the little people holding hands around my little pincushions (the silk made-in-China one and the "blanket toss" one I picked up in Alaska) have to smile about. Perhaps they are smiling because they aren't the ones being poked! Is that how Pokey got his name, or was Gumby saying he was just slow? Know it had nothing to do with the intelligence of the little red horse as he was the brighter of the two, or at least his head held more plasticine. What drivel! To bed!