The Colon Club

Yesterday I had my port flushed. It was a good flush. It hurt a,little more than usual, but not too bad. By dinner time I could not raise my hand over my head to put dishes away. I went to the hospital today and she says she never heard of that and maybe I strained my arm doing another activity. I did not. It is her painful in my shoulder bone and biceps. So, is this weird? Anyone else have this happen? The nurse was not too concerned.

Appletree:
I disagree with the nurse who minimized your concerns . . It certainly could be the case that a generous flush of your port caused the difficulties with volitional movement of your arm in raising it above your head.

Flushing of a port can mimic symptoms of Thoracic Outlet Syndrome (TOS). TSO involves spasm of the jugular vein and/or compression of the brachial plexus as they travel under the clavicle and first rib. Symptoms of TOS: Weakness of the shoulder, a heavy arm, difficulty with bringing the arm above the plane of the shoulder; tingling; numbness; shloulder girdle and upper arm pain.

You can Google “Thoracic Outlet Syndrome” and see how TSO and the symptoms you experienced with the flushing of your port share in similarities.
Karen

Thank you MissMolly. I felt a little silly going back to the hospital, but my arm bicept, under my armpit and shoulder really hurts. The pain goes down into my wrist and my hand/fingers are tingly. The nurse told me it was neuropathy...but my other hand is fine. My only neuropathy is about 1/8" on the tips of each finger. The nurse told me I might have slept on it wrong, but I do not sleep on my port side because it causes it to hurt. I used to be 150 pounds and now my weight is 106. My port really sticks out! So I was worried it was my port. I will take Tylonol and monitor it...if I feel worse I will go back to the hospital with the information you have provided. Thank you so much! I have my port flushed a lot, but this time it just felt different.

My oncologist wants me to keep it for at least a year. Next PET is October even though I had one this summer, she wants another be cause it did not quite match the June CT scan.

Hi AppleTree
I had a very similar experience but with my pic line in my arm. I went to have it flush and bandage changed told the nurse it hurt and I could barely dress myself since I couldn’t raise my arm, she sent me to the ER and they discovered I had several blood clots. I don’t want to scare you but if you really worried about please ask your doctor to investigate further.

Angela