I've Been TPA'd

No, the house has not been toilet papered but my port has been TPA'd ( tissue plasminogen activator) or another way to think of it is that I've had "draino" inserted into the port and now the clog has been dissolved and port is unplugged.

The exact name of the drug used was Activase and it is the same drug used for stroke victims to dissolve a blood clot. The drug is actually an enzyme/protein that we already have in our bodies to naturally dissolve blood clots. In some circumstances, such as stroke or a blocked port, we need far greater quantities of the enzyme. Now get this amazing fact, the manufactured drug is a man-made protein using DNA technology and the ovarian cells from the Chinese hamster. Is that not amazing? If you want to read more, the best source I found is at http://www.medicinenet.com/alteplase/article.htm



The procedure is to inject the drug into the port and 30 minutes later attempt a blood draw. Since the insurance approval for the brain MRI was received I had the drug injected and then moved along to have the MRI and when that was finished the draw was attempted but it did not work. So, the drug was inserted again and I relaxed for another 30 minutes before the next draw was attempted - again there was no blood.



The drug can be left in the port for up to two hours ... it took one hour and 54 minutes before the port began working and we finally got a great blood draw. Whether the blockage was a blood clot or a small fiber produced by my body we don't know. Sally, the nurse conducting the procedure, was confident the port was otherwise working properly because the port and line accepted the injection it just would not allow a draw.



I will admit that for one long moment I had to do some tough self talk. It went something like, suck it up Jan you have come too far and have gone through far tougher things to let this simple problem make you freak out. The truth is I hate, hate, hate needles and all the poking and flushing today was a challenge for me. I also let my mind fast-forward for a minute ... I went through this surgery last month to have the port replaced and now the dumb port won't work and now I will need another surgery. Good thing our mind has rewind and erase buttons because I certainly needed them today.



The end result is that I survived another challenge and increased my knowledge - not a bad thing at all.



Now as for the Brain MRI, wow that was something else. I found it to be an amazing experience and I actually had fun with it but, it's late and this post is already long enough so I will write about the experience tomorrow.