Transition TO A PORT

On Monday, July 29, I had an outpatient procedure at my primary provider - the University of Tennessee Medical Center - to implant a chemo port.  It was my first opportunity to see, up close, interventional radiology equipment from my old employer Siemens.  I didn't see it long - I remember being wheeled into the room and then waking up in the recovery room.  It was not intubated and happy to be under moderate sedation.  A Tylenol the first night after surgery was the only medication I needed.  The picture above was from the following morning.  I need to keep the incisions dry for a week. The surgical glue will flake off and the sutures will dissolve in time - I need to be the incisions dry for a week.
I was curious and a bit anxious about my next infusion just 4 days after the the implantation surgery.  On check-in I said that i had a port installed on Monday.  I recognized the nurse who would be performing my first insertion.  She carefully organized a set of packets of items which would be required - including masks for both of us.  She prepared the area with sanitizer, brought over the access needle, asked me to take a deep breath and then applied the needle.  The prick was quick and certainly no worse than the arm poke typically done for lab work.  After flushes to ensure that the line was clear, blood for this today's lab work was drawn.  The access needle and catheter were left in place and secured with an adhesive patch - the connection would also be used to deliver the infusion.
We met with my doctor and then headed upstairs to the infusion suite.  My nurse was happy to hear that I had a port, and when my Keytruda was ready, the previously prepared line was connected.  No search for a patent IV vein!  When the infusion was complete, the line was again flushed and I was on my way.
I expect that at my next infusion in 3 weeks, the implantation incisions will be healed.  I may look into a getting a lidocain cream that some folks apply about an hour before the access needle is pushed in - but I am not sure that it's really necessary for me. 
As I am looking at continuing Keytruda for another year and a half - I believe that getting  the chemo port was a very good decision.