Tuesday, April 29, 2008

MEDICAL UPDATE 4/29/08

It looks like we are winning the fight against the infection.

The surgeon's office did two tests when we went there. The first one confirmed that I have an infectious bug in there. The second confirmed that the antibiotics I am taking do kill this kind of bug. So now it's just a matter of being sure we take enough of it to kill all the big we can and hope that it hasn't attached itself to my bionic parts.

ICK WARNING!

A couple of days ago, the hole looked like it was closing up, but something had formed nearby. It felt like a puffy blister, but it wasn't a blister. The doc described it as an "infection tract" and that it sounded like a normal reaction. The doc said it sounded like a normal condition but we needed to keep an eye on it.

With that info we waited until late yesterday when we changed the bandage and inspected the area. When the bandage came off, we were surprised with a good bit of bloody ooze dripping from the hole in my heel. So we look at the puffy place and it is dark purply, but it is no longer raised and pressing gently on the spot causes more dripping. So we keep pressing until the dripping stops and then bandage everything back up.

ALL CLEAR!

This morning I get up and start moving around. The heel still hurts like crazy, but after moving around a bit it eases up some. "J" calls the surgeons office this morning and give the details. They say it all sounds like good and normal progress against the infection! Yay!

So I'm up, working, moving, and it is well into the tolerable pain area. In fact, right now my left foot and hip are bothering me far more than my right heel.

Sounds like another baby step in the right direction!

Next up, if something else doesn't happen, is an appointment with the surgeon Thursday to evaluate the infection and see if I'm ready to start the physical therapy that'll get me walking again.

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