Sue had her 'port' successfully implanted yesterday. It was a long day as the procedure was scheduled for 12:30 but significantly delayed and not completed until near 5.00pm. We got home around 7.00pm.

Sue now has a titanium 'UFO looking thing' implanted just below the skin above her right breast with a catheter line tunneled upward under the skin to her jugular vein. There it is inserted into the vein and pushed down so that the end rests in the superior vena cava (big diameter high volume vein next to the heart).

Here are some photos that show 'the inside story':

undefined  undefined 

In case you are having trouble picturing the device, perhaps this may help:

undefined

This is a close-up shot so don't be confused. It is only about the size of a 10 cent piece!

The 'rubber' part in the middle sits just under the skin so a needle can easily be pushed through the skin, through the 'rubber' and into the chamber below. In this way blood samples can be taken, and drugs administered, without the hassle of 'finding a vein' as there is a huge one at the other end of the tube!!

Bloody marvelous! (actually 'not bloody' marvelous!!)

Sue is pretty dopey today as the effects of the anesthetic and the assault on her body take their toll, but otherwise 'all is well'.

As we sat together this afternoon and spoke words of love and assurance to each other we were again overwhelmed by the (re)realisation of how lucky we are to have each other, to be surrounded by family and friends, to have (almost!) free access to high level medical care, to have an embarrassing abundance of material 'riches', and to be confident about who we are individually and as a couple as a consequence of our relationship with Christ.

Life actually doesn't get much better than this folks!