I really hope its not a big deal to exchange the port.

I had a picc line for 8 months after the mandibulectomy surgery. Three times a day, every single day for 8 months I took picc line antibiotics. I would also flush the picc line once when I got up and again when I went to bed. My visiting nurse would come weekly to change the picc line dressing and she also flushed it with 2 or 3 syringes. One day out of the blue, the darn picc line wouldnt flush. I called the doc and they had me go into a special lab where the nurses tried to clear the line. The first time my picc line clogged, this worked. They used a special syringe full of some different solution. But then it clogged again a few weeks later. This time the solution didnt work and I ended up getting a new picc line. I know we are talking about a port in your situation, but a port really is very similar to a picc line. I told you this story so you can see there may be an alternative to getting a new port. It may be able to be fixed by simply flushing a special solution. Hope its that easy anyway!

Good luck!!!!


PS.... Im right there with you with your dislike of needles. I even get a bit nervous when I have to give blood.