So much medical stuff!

I spent my afternoon compiling a list of all the different hospital appointments, emergency room visits, surgeries and/or hospital stays and other medically related activities that I have been to since we first suspected that the bone infection had returned. I will spare you the whole list and all the details that come with it, but here is a brief break down of things. The list spans from November 3rd, 2015 to the end of this month (just to be all inclusive and make it the lovely round number of exactly eighteen months).

I have...
had one bone scan, WBC scan, MRI and CT scan (not at the same time, of course);
had eleven appointments with my infectious disease specialist;
been to the fracture clinic to see me surgeon (or one of his colleagues or students) seventeen times;
attended three pre-op appointments (they recognize me there);
had four surgeries (they don't just recognize me... they know me by name);
spent a total of thirteen days in the hospital, broken down into two separate hospital stays;
visited the emergency department on fourteen occasions (they know me by name now too);
had two PICC lines places;
been seen by a home physiotherapist three times;
seen one cardiologist;
gone in for one echo cardiogram;
attended twelve physical therapy sessions;
gone to the hospital just for blood work on five occasions (this usually happens on the day of an appointment in order to avoid havig to drive to Hamilton two days in a row);
and have had almost thirty visits from a home care nurse.

That is a lot of medical stuff. Then factor in all the days I didn't feel well, spent waiting for scan results or x-rays, had to take care of my own PICC line (so glad it's gone, even eight months later!), , spent recovering from surgery and was stuck with my external fixator - that adds up to a lot of days. A lot of days that revolved around medical stuff. You don't realize how much it adds up until you actually have it down on paper in front of you. It is very sobering. I will never take life for granted again. It is the simple things, like being able to walk outside (or walk at all), cook your own dinner, make your own bed, that make life precious.