Chest Port Installed

Today was the appointment to have my port put in. Mom took me to St. Johns. Had to be there at 10am (by now I am so thirsty and hungry-haven't ate or drank since midnight and I do love my morning coffee!) Got checked in at the first desk for the surgical services and were sent to a different waiting room. Checked in there and decided I better get to the rest room before being called back. Was in the Pre Op room by 11am. Whats the first thing they want from me, a urine sample!. I told them I just went and didn't think they would get one. They hooked up an IV in the top of my hand and put the drip mode to ultra high so I would have to go to the bathroom soon. The IV felt very cold and almost burned because it was dripping so fast. The one RN looked familiar and she said we looked familiar. After talking to her, she and her husband used to own the Ostrander Minit Mart and she hired mom to clean their house. Mom was in pre op with me, had the RN, her name was Kee, went through all the medical questions finally told me she would give me a warm blanket if I gave her a urine sample. ... Eventually, I rang the nurses button and told her I would try and I was successful and I got a warm blanket! The reason for the sample was to make sure I was not pregnant ( funny I know!) since the meds they would be giving me could have problems should I be pregnant and the hospital cant take that chance. Mom and I sat in my little pre op room for quite a while, there was TV to watch but mostly we visited. Finally, the anesthesiologist came in. Explained my stand on the blood issue, that as one of Jehovah's Witnesses due to my Bible training and my conscience I would not take any blood or blood products should a situation come up.(she thought that if a situation did come up, it would spice up her job for the day, but she had never seen it happen in her 22 years of working there) She out right asked if I was one of Jehovah's Witnesses, I said yes. Then she asked me : If in the operating room it comes down to it, would I chose to die rather than take a blood transfusion? Of course my answer was yes. She was fine with that answer. The Dr. who was scheduled to do my operation had to leave, so I ended up with her co-worker. He explained what the port does and where it will be placed and the risks. When he was telling us that he has to find a large main vein and if there is blood loss, there would be a transfusion. So with the anesthesiologist still in the room, mom and I again explained that there would be no transfusion. He said that my surgery, it is about one in one hundred that need a transfusion and to him, that was a very high percentage. We explained our stand again. I don't think he was too happy about it, but was decent about it. We had the anesthesiologist come back in to ask her if there was a situation, what would she do? She explained that there are blood expander's that she would use, along with some meds that would shrink the veins so they would need less blood etc. and she would call mom in the waiting room. She was very nice and I felt good we asked her. However, I felt very nervous that this could be a situation, so I prayed to Jehovah for wisdom that I was making the right choice to have this surgery, and for strength for mom and I since we were the only two at the hospital, no other family, or friends from the congregation for support. I was wheeled off to surgery at 1:45pm. Surgery was to take about 45 minutes if all went OK. At 2:45pm I came out of surgery, they had called mom to come back. The anesthesiologist was at the foot of my bed, gave me two thumbs up that it all went well and there was no issue with a blood transfusion. I started to cry.. so happy, I was more scared than I thought I was. Mom came around the corner and asked why I was crying and told her they were tears of joy because it all went OK and there was no blood issue. I felt alert and good in no time. My personal goal was to be out of there by 3:30pm. We didn't do too bad, I was checked out at 3:45pm. Went to Kaiser to get some pain meds, went home and am currently in pain when I move around. As for the port, its called a chest port ( Power Port) and is completely under my skin, on the right side between my collar bone and breast, and its the size of about a quarter. I have the area of the port and an area on my neck (in the juggler area) where it connected to the vein not bandaged, but taped with clear tape, so its pretty visible and gross looking. The needle for the IV will go through a few layers of skin and into the port which is connected to the vein. They can also draw blood from the port. So that means I shouldn't have to have any more IVs stuck in my arm. Since its under the skin, once it heals, I can shower, swim, what ever daily activities I need to do. There is 1 to 2% chance of infection with the port. It is an object in my body that my body has to accept. The nurses have to clean it well after using it also. Today has been stressful from the minute I got up ( no coffee) to now as it hurts. Off to bed, I might end up spending it on the sofa if I cant lay flat. Next appointment is day after tomorrow when I go for the first chemo treatment using my new port. The Kaiser nurse told me it will be very sore on Thursday.