40 yrs ago even for routine labs I was 4-5 sticks. After having several chronic illnesses, I have 1 vein for labs left. I did a porta Cath for 3 yrs since it's soooo easy.I'm 64 so scar left isn't an issue. Just make sure everyone is following protocol for using .open your mouth if you ?nurses sterile technique. Never stop being an advocate for your health! ! Years ago I developed a temp 103 in hospital with all cultures negative. 3 days later dr asked to see my tush(it was all pain meds went into tush so it was really sore after 2 wks in hospital ) surprise it was a shot site turned abscess! !!it was rather funny. God lunch know whatever you decide!!!

Thank you so much. I'm going to go talk to a surgeon tomorrow to see if I think it will be best for me. Im most worried about it getting infected. I have cats and sometimes I get so busy Im scared I wont maintain it properly.

There is nothing cats could do. .a porta Cath is completely implanted below the surface. Are you talking about a porta Cath or picc line? A picc line is like an Iv line. Iv sites have a time limit of usually a few days and is why longterm options are necessary. Have a great day

My situation is a little different--I currently am getting plasmapheresis treatments as an outpatient so I have a permanent IV catheter in my upper chest. I have had it in for 2 months, and will probably have it in for another 2-3 more months. I had the catheter put in because it reduced the treatment times from 4-5 hours (using a regular IV line) to 1 hour.

I used to get IVIG treatments, and the nurses at my infusion center were explaining to me that your veins can get "overused" and can collapse during treatments.

The obvious pro the having a line of any kind in is that you don't have to worry about getting stuck several times. 8 times sounds pretty excessive so the line might be a good consideration. If the line is like mine, it will be easy to maintain. They're placed under your skin so there's barely anything sticking out.

The con is working around the line i.e. if it's placed in an area where it's hard to shower. There's also the risk of infection but if you keep it dry for the most part and have the dressing changed regularly then you shouldn't have any problems.

I hope any of that helped, and I wish you the best of luck in your decision making process!

I've also had permacath so for phersis. My permacath was in upper chest not allowed to get wet,
Had to be flushed weekly with heparin but different areas of country do things differentlt. My phersis center took 1 hr for treatment but used the permacath only. I guess it depends on who ,what and where!! Find your state support group online on mgfa.com. perhaps you'll find people who can help answer local issues. Good luck

I had a powerport in my chest for 4 years to use for IVIG. It is completely covered by skin and the risk of infection is very minimal if the nurses are careful when accessing it. It is great in regard to finding a spot to stick, and if you use the lidocaine cream about an hour before time, it is also painless. There is no maintenance other than a flush every 4-6 weeks if you haven't used it.

The down side is that I scar easily so it left a scar when they put it in and an even bigger one when they took it out 4 years later. I am of a slim frame of body [no meat on my chest], so my port was very obvious which made it easy for nurses, but was easy for anyone else to see if I wore just a t-shirt. Because of having IVIG two days, I also kept the port accessed overnight and had to tape it up for the night.

Overall, I would recommend getting the port if IVIG is longterm. It really was not a bother having it in and it was great not to be continuously stuck while they hunt for veins. Also, you might not scar like I did [keloids].

Hope you do well.

I have an implanted dual lumen vortex port for a while now. I get plasmapheresis through it every other week, and have also used it for IV infusions.
It sure is better than the many tunneled catheters I've had in the past.
The scar is very minimal, but I'm at a point in my life where comfort trumps appearance. Some surgeons are now placing implanted ports along the upper rib cage now for cosmetic purposes.
I've always been warned about infection, but in 3+ years have never had one.
Good luck in your decision, but I also think 8 sticks is a bit much to have to tolerate. And it's probably because of scarring due to being accessed so much.