Friday, January 12, 2007

Surgery Recovery

It's been a ride this week!!

Monday, 1/8: got the pins removed, taken out of that bulky ortho boot and into a reg ortho boot which is much nicer, was released to drive and work starting Wed, allowed to take a shower on Tuesday night without a plastic bag! Wow, what a great recovery........

Tuesday, 1/9: can't walk, totally swollen, suffering in excruciating pain just like the first day of my surgery. Called Dr's office, attributed pain and swelling to trauma from pin removal. Was home alone all day, couldn't even get out of bed to get a drink. I stayed in bed, slept through the pain.

Wednesday, 1/10: swelling down a little. showered but wow, the water was like pins and needles on my foot. I stayed in bed again all day, worked from home. that night, the "scab" didn't look right and upon cleaning it, it opened and oozed (sorry, it's gross) some gross yellow stuff. when I pushed a little on my foot, the pus was oozing out. GROSS!!

Thursday, 1/11: called the Dr office as soon as they opened. Then the following course of events ensued:
  1. went to work, got a call back, explained my symptoms, was instructed to get an urgent care or primary care appt.
  2. Blood pressure was high - wonder why? Temperature was high - gee, can you say "infection"?
  3. One Dr and Three Nurses took a look at my foot individually. Funny, their reaction was the same, they GASPED loudly and said, "OH MY GOD!" Great.........just what I wanted to hear. They must have missed that part of the class about "BEDSIDE MANNER".
  4. Dr cleaned up my foot with Betadyne
  5. OUCH! - antibiotic shot in the hip
  6. Wrap up my foot - nothing personal against the nurse, but you should have seen this wrap job. OY!! while wrapping my foot, two nurses were saying these things to me, "Oh, Dr. Pfeiffer wouldn't want you here today with us. Oh No, he wouldn't want us touching your foot. He would not be happy. You should not have come here." WOW!!!
  7. OUCH! - blood draw in right arm elbow bend for CBC
  8. picked up TWO antibiotic prescriptions from the bitchiest Pharm-Tech on the planet!!
  9. 2 HRS LATER!! Got the hell out of there and went straight home
During my drive home, I decided to call the nurse in the surgeon's office back since those other nurses made such a BIG DEAL about my being there. Here's the events that followed that decision:
  1. Talked to Penny, she seemed to start back-peddling and telling me that I should go to the ER and see the Ortho Dr. on call. OR maybe I should wait, go to the nurses clinic in the morning get my wound checked and then go down to the Dr's main offices at Zion (like Clifton in Cincy) for their opinion. But, maybe I shouldn't wait, yes, definitely go to the ER tonight. blah blah blah.....
  2. Went to the ER, prayed all the way there, scared shitless, expected the worst
  3. Saw the Ortho guy
  4. OUCH! got an IV in my left arm elbow bend
  5. OOOH, got a morphine shot in my IV - wow, that was VERY different than in the hospital. The Dr said it was because of the level of pain I was in. Morphine just makes the pain bearable but not for everyone, It was such a weird feeling - like a huge bag of flour, breaking and dumping on my chest all at once - but not hurting, definitely soft, but all over at once. OOOH!
  6. NO Ouch - drew blood from the IV for more CBC's and other tests
  7. Dr was pressing and squeezing on my foot - good thing for the morphine - nothing would come out
  8. They ordered a bed for me and I really thought I'd stay, get IV antibiotics, possibly have it opened in a surgery room. SCARED!!
  9. got X-Rays - they were fine, looked good, NO Bone Infection
  10. blood tests came back and everyone was perplexed - NO INFECTION ANYWHERE IN MY BODY - What the heck!! The infected area was at least 5" x 4", red, squishy white and you could easily see it. EVERYONE agreed it was infected EXCEPT the blood tests.....that could lead me to only ONE conclusion!! THANK YOU FATHER, GOD!! I prayed that he would just take this infection from me and by the time I got to the hospital the tests proved that he took it away. I still have symptoms, improving, but no infection!!
  11. Got released for the night!!
Whew!! All I had to do was go to the Nurse's Clinic today and have them "look" at my wound and make sure the infection is receding. And it is.

Seeing my surgeon Tuesday morning - wow! what a week!! TGIF!! HEHE!!!

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