My port scar is very bumpy and if I touch it is definitely not smoothe like my mastectomy scars. I had my port placed and removed by a heart surgeon in the CATH lab. I wonder if they are not as careful as Plastic surgeons are with the incisions. I also have arthritis in my neck, spine, hips and knees, the only place I really feel it is my neck and spine and occasional in my knees when I walk. None of my doctors ever suggest doing anything about it. I really don't want to take any new meds.

Thanks for that Jwags, I did read before that degenerative disease is very common as we get older and we don't always get symptoms. I have a small soft swelling but no pain and it may not be due to the port at all but as you say it is very hard to get a straight answer from anyone. I am a year after my last chemo this month and my port was taken out shortly afterwards so I do have scar tissue too, and it left a bigger scar than I expected. Sometimes I think the scar from the port is worse than the scar from the lumpectomy.

I had my bone scan around the same time I had my port out in. So I think the degenerative disease was already there. My ONC didn't say anything about it. The only reason I knew was that I read my bone scan report on MY CHART. When I brought this up he basically told me to talk to my GP. I brought this up at my GP appt and he said it was caused by growing old and if most people had a bone or CT scan they would find degenerative disease. He said to take OTC meds if it hurt. My cancer was on the left side, so my port was on my right side. My upper right chest expander seemed more swollen than the left one. I showed it to several different doctors and no one had an explanation. I was wondering if it was a reaction to the port above it. I had my port out in 3/17. The scar tissue still hurts sometimes. I think they must have out my port in in the top of nerve bundles.

Thank you for your reply Jwags. So what do you mean by degenerative disease - arthritis ? What did you do to cure it ? I think I will have another scan, as my swelling, even though unnoticable by times, is getting slightly bigger. I was wondering if this was something others got too, and was it as a result of my port giving trouble and then the nurse tugged at it and did this injure the vein - all the things that go through your mind !!!! It is very hard to get an answer to this. I have asked 5 doctors and none of them know what it is and all just say that if the CT scan is clear I don't have anything to worry about. .

My port bothered me the entire 8 months it was in. I had lots of chest pain around it. They even sent me to have it xrayed to make sure it was OK. Nothing showed up. When I had my bone scan and CT scan before chemo, they did tell me I had terrible degenerative disease in my sternum. I am wondering if that was part of the problem.