Well, it's been a rollercoaster of a month for me... my infection did not seem to improve with the removal of the port and the oral antibiotics. The doctor wanted me to go to the ER to get IV antibiotics put into to me. Ordinarily wouldn't mind going to the ER but with a pandemic going on, I was very concerned. But I bit the bullet and went to the ER, surprisingly it was empty and I was taken right away and had a series of tests done - blood work, blood culture, sonogram on my neck, chest X-ray, another COVID-19 test, and endured the nurses trying to find a vein on me to administer an IV. The sonogram on my neck showed I had a vein thrombosis (blood clot), which I suspect was what also triggered the infection. I was told I need to be admitted to the hospital and stayed for 4 days, in which I was given antibiotics and Xeralto (blood thinner). I had also seen an Infectious Disease doctor who told me I need to be on IV antibiotics- Daptomycin -for several weeks to get rid of the staph infection. A PICC line was put into my left arm and I have had a nurse come to my home every week to change the dressing and draw blood from the line for the Infectious Disease doctor to see how I am progressing on the med. I hope by the end of this month I can be finished with the antibiotics, the Xeralto I may need to stay on for another month. I never had a fever or any other serious side effects other than the redness and tenderness near the inflamed vein near my neck.
I also had another infusion done last week using the PICC line for my Herceptin & Perjeta - I asked the Infusion nurses if they thought they can find my veins without the PICC line, they weren't really sure, but I am going to have it removed as I find it uncomfortable, it makes me nervous another infection can form, and because I am on a blood thinner it seems it is always bleeding through the vein guard.
I've read some articles on how to improve ways to find a vein and I am going to do all of them prior to my next infusion, I've even invested in a devise called VeinLite to hopefully help in finding a vein. I have really only 5-6 more infusions to go and I think I would rather endure an hour of an IV line vs. a PICC line that hangs outside my body 24/7 that needs to be flushed, dressing changed every week, wrap up the arm before showering, can't sleep on my side, pain and limited arm movements - not to mention another possible threat of infection.
The open wound where the port was is slowly healing, but it also causes pain if I move my arm too much, I've been changing that bandage every day as well. I just would like one arm I can use normally, I had been very good doing exercises to ease the scarring and stiffness from my bilateral mastectomy, but I feel now with the PICC line and the wound I can't really stretch much without fear I'll tear, pull or dislodge/tangle a PICC line.
Well I'm trying to stay optimistic, even though I feel like a walking mess up, but gotta keep moving forward.
To be continued.... 
