Last Saturday, the weekend doc decided they had waited on antibiotics long enough and called the surgeon in to look at the swelling under my arm. Later that day, they drained the abscess. I am thankful they knocked me out to do it. Although the incision is less than two inches, the surgeon said the amount of infection was extensive and healing will be a long process.
Sunday they let me come home after blowing two more veins trying to get more vancomycin in me. They sent me home on antibiotics and with pain pills. Tuesday I went to the wound care center to have the packing removed and repacked. Not a pleasant process! When the packing was finally out, the nurse measured it - 52 inches of two inch gauze had been used to pack the canal area the infection had created.
I am now set up for home health to come change the packing daily to keep the incision open so the wound can heal from the inside out. The surgical culture was positive for staph infection even though I had no external wound/sore. I am hoping the healing goes quickly. Right now my big challenge is dealing with the tape and sore spots it is creating.
I am not back to exercise yet but have been trying to keep my diet healthy.
My goal tomorrow is to get back to 32 oz of water and work back to 64. My current weight is 197 lbs so I am not gaining and hope when I can walk again, I can start losing again.
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Saturday, August 11, 2012
About My Silence and Healthier Hospital Food
Sorry about my silence for a while. I have had a rough August so far. I wasn't feeling great as we started getting into lease signing furniture moving days but things got worse from there. I thought in all the sweating I had done, a hair follicle under my arm had formed a boil. It really was only a red spot a little bigger than a pencil eraser. But it never came to a head and by the time the work week was coming to an end (a week ago) I though it was gone. I guess the effects were not. A week ago I woke up with pain in my arm pit. Not a little pain, one of those show-stopping, wonder if you can continue pains. I looked but could not see anything. It reminded me of the pain when I had costochondritis and the lining of my rib cage was inflamed.
I took motrin and tried to continue with the day. By evening, my underarm was a little swollen and I was sick to my stomach. In hind site, the sick probably came from the infection building. I slept on the couch, close to the bathroom, with heat pads on my arm. It should have been a telling sign that I needed to use the bathroom every 30 minutes or so that night. By Sunday morning the pain was pretty persistent but there wasn't much swelling and no fever, just a painful arm. I managed hot packs off and on as we prepared for a birthday party.
Monday morning I headed to work for a half day with the last of school registration to be done in the afternoon. Standing in the registration line, my body turned flush and the heat turned on. I felt like my fever had to be 105 or more all the sudden but in reality it was just 99 but my armpit area was basically squishy all over and really swollen. I took the kids home and went to urgent care. They looked, agreed it was really swollen but there was no central point where it originated, no absess that he could tell and no way to know where to drain. So he loaded me in antibiotics and sent me home. the fever broke but the pain didn't. Before the night was over the redness started.
Tuesday morning was more of the same only the pain or infection would not let me keep anything down. By afternoon the fever started and the redness began to spread starting my journey to the ER. It took the PA one look to say she was admitting followed by a list of blood cultures she wanted along with a CT scan. I eventually learned the blood cultures were negative and the CT scan showed cellulitis. But one week later I am still here with a massive hard spot under my arm. I have been on heavy antibiotics all week and finally this morning the weekend doc asked why it had not been drained. I asked this earlier but the approach was to reduce it with the antibiotics. He is going to contact a surgeon to look. I hope they come soon. I rank the pain of cellulitis on the scale of having bunion surgery. It definitely exceeds the pain of childbirth for me.
So this has been the reason for my silence. I try not to write (or talk to people) when in a pain drug cloud. I am almost at the point where my meds have worn off so I will talk about how healthy the food is here in another message. When I got here I weighed 198' no clue what I weight today but I have definitely burned fewer calories lately. Hoping to see that surgeon soon so I can get home and back to normal.
I took motrin and tried to continue with the day. By evening, my underarm was a little swollen and I was sick to my stomach. In hind site, the sick probably came from the infection building. I slept on the couch, close to the bathroom, with heat pads on my arm. It should have been a telling sign that I needed to use the bathroom every 30 minutes or so that night. By Sunday morning the pain was pretty persistent but there wasn't much swelling and no fever, just a painful arm. I managed hot packs off and on as we prepared for a birthday party.
Monday morning I headed to work for a half day with the last of school registration to be done in the afternoon. Standing in the registration line, my body turned flush and the heat turned on. I felt like my fever had to be 105 or more all the sudden but in reality it was just 99 but my armpit area was basically squishy all over and really swollen. I took the kids home and went to urgent care. They looked, agreed it was really swollen but there was no central point where it originated, no absess that he could tell and no way to know where to drain. So he loaded me in antibiotics and sent me home. the fever broke but the pain didn't. Before the night was over the redness started.
Tuesday morning was more of the same only the pain or infection would not let me keep anything down. By afternoon the fever started and the redness began to spread starting my journey to the ER. It took the PA one look to say she was admitting followed by a list of blood cultures she wanted along with a CT scan. I eventually learned the blood cultures were negative and the CT scan showed cellulitis. But one week later I am still here with a massive hard spot under my arm. I have been on heavy antibiotics all week and finally this morning the weekend doc asked why it had not been drained. I asked this earlier but the approach was to reduce it with the antibiotics. He is going to contact a surgeon to look. I hope they come soon. I rank the pain of cellulitis on the scale of having bunion surgery. It definitely exceeds the pain of childbirth for me.
So this has been the reason for my silence. I try not to write (or talk to people) when in a pain drug cloud. I am almost at the point where my meds have worn off so I will talk about how healthy the food is here in another message. When I got here I weighed 198' no clue what I weight today but I have definitely burned fewer calories lately. Hoping to see that surgeon soon so I can get home and back to normal.
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