I won’t even pretend to be a medical professional on this but I come to you in this post as a mom. A mom who’s had both placed in her child and had to make the decision on which one to choose. Both involve surgery and risks such as infection but that is something to talk over with health professionals.

Mary had PICC lines going into her trial at Stanford. Agreeing to the port was hard, partly because in my mind she wasn’t going to be sick and in treatment long enough to need a port. I thought ports were for older people that did chemo for years and years and my child wouldn’t have that.  In my head I still believed my child was going to find the Cure. Well clearly she wasn’t and after 4 PICC lines and an allergy to chlorhexidine we agreed to do the to do the port.

The port concept was scary  to me. It felt so invasive under the skin having to be accessed with the needle every time  it was needed.   The PICC line needed so much more on our end to keep it from clotting and clean and with an active children I was always worried it would get pulled on (or even worse out).  Once we got the port I saw the benefits- Mary hatted having it accessed but it was because she could see the needle- she didn’t feel it. Over time she got use to this, something no kid should, and turned it into a game. She would yell at nurses and then after say “that wasn’t so bad”.

For us the port turned out to be best but every family is different. In the next few posts I will dive more into PICC line v. Port pros and cons from a caregivers viewpoint. Hopefully it gives you some insight if you are needing to make this decision.

Until next time- hug your kid and those you love a bit more today and Mary- love you, miss you, mean it.