View of My Arm (Needle-Phobes be Warned)

How do you get the best arms on the block for 2009? Obviously I'm not the one to ask, but here are a couple of steps you might want to AVOID:

Step 1) Having a hard-to-access (though otherwise awesome) arm port.
Step 2) Overusing said arm port to the point where it goes on strike. (I'm convinced this is what happened - the doctors however seem to think it's a clot. Clot, strike: no matter what you call it, the result is the same.)
Step 3) Injecting TPA into the clogged/overworked port in order to bribe it into functioning. Note that this apparently requires that a weird contraption with two syringes be left dangling from the access site for an hour.
Step 4) Allowing the insertation of an "emergency" peripheral IV in your hand/wrist for use while the TPA (which is just a fancy name for liquid plumber for ports) does its job.

If you avoid these 4 simple steps, you should be able to get through the year without your arm looking like this:



I'm actually pretty amused by the whole thing, and it definitely looks worse than it is. Guess no visit to the hospital ever goes entirely according to plan.