Lingering Side Effects

 It's been almost six weeks since my last Kadcyla infusion, but I still have some lingering side effects.

• Runny nose. My nose has always been runny, but it got worse with chemo and Kadcyla. It has eased up now but is still worse than normal. Occasionally I get a little bleeding.
• Split nails. My nails have gotten brittle and split quite often. I think I even lost the nail in my little toe but didn't notice till it had grown back. I bought a bottle of nail treatment with keratin that's applied like nail polish. It even smells like nail polish. It flakes off easily though, and I have to reapply it every couple of days.
• Acid reflux. I had been taking omeprazole (Prilosec) daily for a year and decided to stop a few weeks after my last Kadcyla. But I still get acid reflux, and now I burp a lot. So I'm back on omeprazole for a while.
• Bleeding gums. Not sure if Kadcyla is to blame for this. In the past when I'd notice bleeding, it goes away after a day or two. But for the past year, it happens quite often and in more than one location, and it takes a while to go away.
• Styes. I got a lot of styes from chemo and Kadcyla. I thought it had stopped, but I got another one a couple of weeks ago. Again, I don't know if Kadcyla is to blame for the latest stye.

I used to get fatigue after every infusion. At least it's gone now.

Port Removal

On February 28, my port was removed. They refer to the removal as a procedure, not minor surgery. But it was done in a surgical room by a PA, and I was prepped as if for surgery, complete with heart rate monitor and continuous blood pressure monitor. The only difference from surgery is that it was done under local anesthesia. 

Lidocaine injections are very painful, so I applied EMLA cream to my port area two hours before the procedure, hoping it would help with the pain. I thought it did initially, but at one point I went, "Ow!" when the PA injected the lidocaine too fast.

The procedure was like this except it took much longer, maybe 15-20 minutes. Because I've had the port for 15 months, a lot of tissue had grown around it, and the PA took her time removing it to avoid breaking the port.

I was nervous about the procedure and cried a bit at the beginning. Then I spent the rest of the time trembling in fear. A sheet was placed over my head, so I couldn't see what was happening, but I knew what was happening (thanks to the video 😛), and it scared me. If the PA noticed my shaking, she didn't say anything.

To close me up, she put in "a couple" of internal stitches. I think it was more like half a dozen. Then she applied glue on my skin. No bandage needed.

I didn't have much pain afterward. I took Tylenol at first, but in the evening, Tylenol wasn't helping, so I took Advil instead. One more Tylenol the next morning, and that was it. No more pain after 24 hours.