Two
weeks ago I was lying in a hospital bed, trying to get my pain levels under
control. Last week, I was in my own bed, groggy on the pain medication I was prescribed,
but happy to be home. And today I am binge watching Netflix and ankle deep in a
massive cross stitch project.
Time
is a funny thing. When I was in the hospital right after surgery, dealing with
some of the worst pain I have ever had and eagerly awaiting the next dose of pain
medication, time crawled by slowly, thick like molasses. Now that I am feeling
better and up to doing more, however, I am shocked that it had already been two
weeks since surgery. On the other hand, when I think of how much longer I have
to wait for until I get my external fixator, time once more slows down… “Only
two weeks? Feels like a life time…”
I will
be happy when this is all over, when I am healthy again. When you are sick with
something for so long, you kind of lose sight of the future. Everything in life
becomes focused on your health, or the lack there of, with having the energy
for daily activities and getting through them. The past eight months of been
primarily focused on the bone infection, and the next six months, (hopefully
not more if all goes well) will be as well. I want to dream after that, to have
beautiful extravagant dreams and plans for a million different things I have
always wanted to do.
Enough
about that though.
When
I was discharged from the hospital last week Monday, I was given an appointment
at the fracture clinic for September 3 (last week Thursday). It wasn’t supposed
to be a post op appointment since my orthopedic surgeon wouldn’t be there (on
holiday on Friday, his clinic day). I was just supposed to see another surgeon
who would ok me to get a new cast or back slab. I had to get blood work at
another hospital first, and because there can be a long wait, mum and I were
there quite early. The blood work was done super fast, so we arrived at the
other hospital about 1 ½ early. That worked out really well. The later in the
day you arrive (check in time, not appointment time), the longer you will
probably have to wait to see the doctor. We only had to wait maybe 20 minutes
before my name was called.
When
the surgeon walked in, he looked at my x-rays (which are pretty damn impressive
if you ask me!) and said “This looks like something Dr. … (my surgeon) would be
interested in. Let me go call him.” Although my surgeon didn’t have clinic, he
was in the building, so he came down to see me! Awesome!
My
surgeon spent quite a bit of time with me to go over everything. He went over
what happened in surgery, and how more bone came out than anticipated and, as a
result, a bone graft would not be the best option for me. Apparently it takes a
lot more time to graft 6 centimeters of bone than then 4 we originally hoped for.
Plus, I am too tiny to get 6 centimeters worth of bone from my pelvis, even
with cadaver bone. My surgeon said he thinks my best option is to get an
external fixator. He doesn’t want to use the Ilizarov fixator (or as my surgeon
said “the one with all the rings”) because that would take nine months to heal.
He wants to use a lengthening-progressive external fixator instead. I should
only have this on my leg for 2 months. After doing some research on the wonder
that is google, I figured out that this is the monolateral fixator (link to a
picture found here and here). Much better than the one with all the rings encircling your leg! I don’t know if I should be more relieved that I don’t
need the bone graft or nervous about needing a fixator.
I mentioned
the IV antibiotic I am (Vancomycin) to my surgeon. One of the side effects of this
medication is hearing loss. Before surgery I was having some ringing in my
ears. I have had this before, and it sometimes gets worse when I am really
tired or stressed. I saw an ENT doctor for it years ago and he said that some
people just get it and that it is completely normal. Except it got a lot worse
when I got home from the hospital last week. So I mentioned it to the surgeon,
who agreed it is good to stop the IV infusions because Vancomycin is known to
cause ringing in ears, which could be a sign of permanent hearing loss/damage.
He then called my infectious disease specialist, who decided to put me on an
oral antibiotic (Septra) instead. So… my PICC line was pulled! Because of where
it was, I had to lay flat for half an hour, but that was totally worth it!
After 57 days, no more PICC line XD I am not thrilled about the Septra, because
it causes photosensitivity, and it is finally getting cool enough to be
outside, but it is much better than the PICC line. Mum and I were a bit nervous
about stopping the IV antibiotics, but infectious disease told the surgeon that
they were no longer needed because the infected bone was gone, and oral
antibiotics are just as effective for soft tissue. It is really weird to think
that the infected bone is longer in me, that my bone defect is gone. Ha! Now I
just don’t have a bone…
My
staples were taken out while I was lying down after the PICC line was pulled,
all 27 of them. Then I had a patella tendon bearing cast out on, so when my leg
hurts less I can walk on it a bit, while using my crutches of course. The incision
on my leg is doing really well and hardly hurts anymore. It is about 17 centimeters long. The muscles in my leg are still really sore, but that is to
be expected. I have started getting bone pain where my tibia was cut. It is a
really deep throbbing unpleasant feeling. I will never get used to it.
I
see my surgeon again on October 9th, when we will start planning the
next surgery and I will sign the consent forms for it. I have already started
jotting down some questions I have about the external fixator. My surgeon said
that he could do the second surgery now, if I really wanted, because
technically the infected bone is gone and the fixator would be attached to the
healthy sections of bone, far from the infected area. He recommended against
this however, because we want to be really sure that the infection is gone
before we make our next move. We need to let the antibiotics do their work so
the surrounding tissue is infection free. He took 15 different samples during
the surgery. He said he normally only takes one, but we need to get to the
bottom of what caused the infection. As of Thursday’s appointment, nothing has
grown. He said he had already been in contact with infectious disease, who is going
work with microbiology to run some special tests. Fingers crossed they grow
something! We then talked a bit about pain and ho the leg won’t feel normal
until my bone is regrown. He said we could go ahead with the surgery sooner if
I really get fed up with the bone pain, but I want to make it through as
originally planned. I have gone through so much, and extra month or so of bone
pain won’t do me in.
My
cast was pretty uncomfortable on the drive home on Thursday (longer than usual because
mum and I went to Lasting Toys, a speciality Lego shop, in Mississauga which
added an extra 80 kilometers or so to the trip, totally worth it though!). It
got a bit better after we got home, but I struggled with it all night long,
constantly repositioning and unable to get comfortable. Friday my toes were
really tingling and going numb at times. Mum and I spent four hours at the
emergency department at the St.Catharines hospital (couldn’t get through to
anyone at the hospital in Hamilton, and didn’t want to get stuck in traffic
because of the Labour Day weekend). The doctor cut the one side of the cast
open to give my leg some room for swelling. That made a big difference. He said
to call my surgeon on Tuesday to make sure it is ok and does not have to be
replaced. I called the fracture clinic yesterday morning, but no response yet.
Hopefully tomorrow.
That
is about it, really. I have been binge watching the Walking Dead, working on a
massive cross stich project (which I will blog about another day), reading
books, lots of word puzzles, colouring, and sleeping a lot. Mum and I went for
a nice drive along the parkway and through Niagara-on-the-Lake this afternoon.
It really cooled down today, which is wonderful after all the heat. I don’t
have any plans, other than to continue working on my cross stich project. I am
a bit bummed out today because it would have been the first day of third
semester. But I stay positive. School will be waiting for me once I get better.
I can’t wait to get back to it! The last eight months have definitely shown me
that nursing is the profession for me. Everything I have gone through and still
have to go through will help me to become an amazing nurse and empathize with my
patients and advocate for them.
Last
thing before the good part – I see infectious disease next week Tuesday. I really
really really hope she can tell me that the lab grew something. If we can
target the infection with specific antibiotics we will have a better shot at
getting rid of it for good. I will likely update next after that appointment.
Now
for the good part. The pictures! The x-rays where taken around 8pm the day of surgery. Should get more at my next appointment to make usre everything is still ok (well, as ok as not having a tibia can be).
My right lower leg, one week post up. Still got some lovely brusing going on there. As anticipated, I can't really feel my my shin. A lot of the skin is numb. You can't use the same spot four times for surgery without some permanent issues. Last time around I eventually got a lot, if not quite all, of the feeling back, but I don't expect that after this surgery and and especially not after the next one. Also note the hair on ym leg. I will look like a freaking hobbit in three months time.... and perhaps the tan lines on my feet from my favorite sandels will finally go away.
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