I have had two.
Its a minor surgical proceedure to put it in. You will be semi awake, but should not feel any pain because of the meds they will give you.
It will be sore and painful for the first few days - just as you would expect any incision to be. If it is still hurting after the first week, make sure you tell someone because that could mean something is wrong. After that, it really shouldnt hurt. If you have it long enough, you may even get to a point where you dont notice it at all.
In mine, you could feel the tube where it tunnled up into my neck... I would freak people out by letting them feel it. lol.
When they access the port with needles, it feels like a bee sting, to me. They make numbing cream you can get to put on it, called emla cream. You may or may not need it, but if you want to cant hurt to get it and try it. I used it a couple times, but wasnt worth it to me to use it regularly. But, its not steril, and the entire area around the port has to be sterile when its accessed. So, you wont be able to use it while your incision is still healing, or if they are just changing the needles.
I will warn you... if you get a nurse along the line who misses the port while trying to access it, it will hurt like h*ll. Luckily though, the nurses that will be doing the access are specifically trained to do it, and do it every day. The few times I had someone miss was when the nurse didnt do it very often.
All in all, the ports are a life saver. It keeps you from getting stuck a million times. Plus, it helps reduce the damage the chemo will be doing to your veins. The tube for the port goes through your vein and lands at the tip of the heart. So, your iv meds will be inside a plastic tube and not actually touch your body until the heart, where it is very quickly mixed with your blood, so the concentration of chemo hitting your veins is quite smaller. They can also give you multiple meds at the same time through it, and at quicker rates than they can a regular iv.
I wish I still had one, because even though I am done with treatment, they still do blood work and everything. It was SOOo much easier with a port.