So my port was flushed with saline yesterday around 5:30pm, for the first time in a few weeks, and about two hours later I had severe chills all night.

I was really really cold, even with an electric blanket on me, then I got very hot around 11pm.

I am also feeling extremely weak, like my blood pressure is probably low. I don’t know where my machine is right now and I’m too weak to get up to find it.

The entire two weeks I didn’t flush my port, I didn’t have chills like this the entire time, then tonight they came back with a vengeance.

My cough was also severe about an hour after my port was flushed.

While it’s not a 100%, I really feel this port needs to come out as soon as possible. If it is infected, my heart rate problems might improve too once it comes out.

Since it’s the middle of the night, I’m trying to lay in bed and hang on until morning, not to bother you and Dr. Sherman. I’m hoping like the other times I had severe chills, by morning they’ll be a little bit better, but it still needs to come out.

My question is — once the port comes out, do I need to do some IV antibiotics go make sure the infection is gone? Is there any way we can culture this thing when it comes out, to see what kind of bacteria is growing in there?

Thank you very much for everything, I am scary ill right now. I’m overdue on my IG and I haven’t even taken any oral antibiotics for a few days. Clearly it was a receipe for cooking up something bad in there…

Thanks again ❤️❤️❤️

Tara