Goodbye Port!

Author: Shannon Miller

I have to admit, I grew to love the portocath very quickly during the grueling part of chemotherapy. I am not a fan of needles to begin with and the idea of trying to find a vein almost every day for 9 weeks was a bit daunting. The portocath was a dream.

However, having now been declared cancer free and working hard to regain my strength and stamina, the port seems like that one left over piece that continues to remind me of the big C.

Of course, I’m still waiting for my hair to grow out and have voiced my frustration via Twitter and Facebook with that issue. I was never good at fixing hair. My go to style for 20 years was a pony tail, braided and tucked under into a bun. (along with the big bangs of course!) Now, my hair is coming back more curly than every and frankly it’s just easier to wear a wig. The ever so polite barista’s at Starbuck’s are very sweet. I’ll run by after a morning workout in sweats and no hair just to return later that afternoon for a coffee meeting in a suit and long auburn wig! I think they were fairly confused for the first month.

Tomorrow will be a big day. I’m headed to Channel 4 WJXT here in Jacksonville where I’ll join fellow survivor Cynthia Carrasco to talk about our trapeze adventure for “Seize the Day with Shannon Miller“. It will be a wonderful way to celebrate conquering cancer! From there it’s off to St. Vincent’s Medical Center to see my wonderful physician, Dr. Stephen Buckley (who you may have seen in some of our My Journey video articles). He’ll remove my port in a very quick procedure.

What a wonderful way to kick off the holiday’s. I’m looking forward to a much less stressful 2012!