Well, it's been a couple of weeks of some pain meds and LOTS of horse-pill sized antibiotics.
The short version is that I had a visit with Dr. D today and it appears my infection is all cleared up and my post-op swelling is back down to even better than expected at this point. I am back to walking pretty well (all things considered); only using my cane for occasional support.
So I'm back to seeing what I can do and getting into trouble.
When I get back to work next week I'll get back to my walking and stair-climbing regimen. As I get my act back together, I'll be trying to get myself back on Wii using our new Fit Plus we got for Christmas. We've already been using the Sports Resort we were given and I think it has already helped some too.
With any luck and nothing terribly stupid happening by my own hand, perhaps this is the last of the major hurdles we'll have to deal with for a while.
God's blessings to all in the New Year.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Couldn't Keep It Simple...
Yep, yet another hitch in the giddyup.
Last week, after a PT session, my foot started hurting. I figured the PT just kicked my butt. The next day my foot was really hurting so I canceled my Friday PT session to give it some recouperation time.
Friday comes and I go to work. While there I change from my shoes into crocs because, for now, they are a little more comfortable for my left foot. When I was ready to go home I put my shoes back on and immediately the collar of my left shoe was killing me. Regardless, I get in the truck and head home. It was hurting so badly I thouht I would have to stop along the way and have Julie or someone come and get me.
By Saturday it was swollen, getting read, and was very tender. By Sunday it was getting real red and even more swollen. This is obviously not a good sequence of events!
Monday morning rolls around, I go to work, and J starts making phone calls. First up...my surgeon's office. He is out of town and his nurse isn't sure what to do and whether Dr. D's backup should be called. Next up? Call my GP for an appointment to get an opinion of what's going on. He says he won't look at it. I need to see my surgeon. OK. He's fired. Then J calls the clinic she goes to and gets me in the after hours clinic.
So I get to the after hours clinic and the Doc there finally makes it in, looks at my foot, pokes around a bit (that was fun) and declares that I need to get to the ER because there is definitely an infection going on and there may be more happening and I really need to get it checked out better than he could do there.
So off to the hospital we go.
So we get there and the waiting room is EMPTY! Sweet! Wrong. Turns out a veritable fleet of ambulances (ambuli?) swamped the place just before we got there. So we wait...and wait...and..well, you get the idea.
We eventually get in, the duty Doc zips in, looks, pokes, swabs the area that's seeping, says a few things, tells a couple of jokes, and splits. Pretty soon a portable x-ray cart is being wedged into the room. I think the radiologist is also a certified forklift operator. Picstures are taken and she disappears.
A little while later the doc comes back and has good news and bad news. The good news is that there is no bone infection. YAY! (Bone infections can be some seriously bad news.) The bad news is that I have a staph infection in my heel and it's that kinda of bug you generally get from hospitals that is very resistant to normal antibiotics.
So he gives me a scrip for some kinda high-powered broad spectrum antibiotics to essentially carpet-bomb my body to kill this crap and tells me to keep my foot elevated and warm and get in to see my surgeon as soon as possible.
So here I am again. Sitting in bed, working from home via my laptop, sittin in my jammies and drinkin coffee.
I started taking the new drugs last night and I think it is already a little better. It sure doesn't seem as tender as it was and what little walking I'm doing feels better.
Yet again I owe a big thanks to some dedicated medical folks, some dear friends who were standing by in case we needed them and offered up prayers for some good results, and, most of all, to J for her persistence and incredible support.
Hopefully there will be no more surprises and I can get back in the groove soon!
Last week, after a PT session, my foot started hurting. I figured the PT just kicked my butt. The next day my foot was really hurting so I canceled my Friday PT session to give it some recouperation time.
Friday comes and I go to work. While there I change from my shoes into crocs because, for now, they are a little more comfortable for my left foot. When I was ready to go home I put my shoes back on and immediately the collar of my left shoe was killing me. Regardless, I get in the truck and head home. It was hurting so badly I thouht I would have to stop along the way and have Julie or someone come and get me.
By Saturday it was swollen, getting read, and was very tender. By Sunday it was getting real red and even more swollen. This is obviously not a good sequence of events!
Monday morning rolls around, I go to work, and J starts making phone calls. First up...my surgeon's office. He is out of town and his nurse isn't sure what to do and whether Dr. D's backup should be called. Next up? Call my GP for an appointment to get an opinion of what's going on. He says he won't look at it. I need to see my surgeon. OK. He's fired. Then J calls the clinic she goes to and gets me in the after hours clinic.
So I get to the after hours clinic and the Doc there finally makes it in, looks at my foot, pokes around a bit (that was fun) and declares that I need to get to the ER because there is definitely an infection going on and there may be more happening and I really need to get it checked out better than he could do there.
So off to the hospital we go.
So we get there and the waiting room is EMPTY! Sweet! Wrong. Turns out a veritable fleet of ambulances (ambuli?) swamped the place just before we got there. So we wait...and wait...and..well, you get the idea.
We eventually get in, the duty Doc zips in, looks, pokes, swabs the area that's seeping, says a few things, tells a couple of jokes, and splits. Pretty soon a portable x-ray cart is being wedged into the room. I think the radiologist is also a certified forklift operator. Picstures are taken and she disappears.
A little while later the doc comes back and has good news and bad news. The good news is that there is no bone infection. YAY! (Bone infections can be some seriously bad news.) The bad news is that I have a staph infection in my heel and it's that kinda of bug you generally get from hospitals that is very resistant to normal antibiotics.
So he gives me a scrip for some kinda high-powered broad spectrum antibiotics to essentially carpet-bomb my body to kill this crap and tells me to keep my foot elevated and warm and get in to see my surgeon as soon as possible.
So here I am again. Sitting in bed, working from home via my laptop, sittin in my jammies and drinkin coffee.
I started taking the new drugs last night and I think it is already a little better. It sure doesn't seem as tender as it was and what little walking I'm doing feels better.
Yet again I owe a big thanks to some dedicated medical folks, some dear friends who were standing by in case we needed them and offered up prayers for some good results, and, most of all, to J for her persistence and incredible support.
Hopefully there will be no more surprises and I can get back in the groove soon!
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
The Latest
The next round of fun officially kicked off yesterday afternoon when we went to see Dr. D and get my staples out. And yes, it hurt like crazy. Luckily there were fewer staples than last time and not as many of them were tight so it wasn't as bad as it could have been. But still....
The fun continued today with my return to the good old physical therapy clinic. It is not expected that I will have to go there for very long and it was good to see the folks there again.
I am walking around again, only sometimes using my cane for support although I usually keep it handy just in case. I still have a few hot spots that always or nearly always hurt and others that only hurt when I walk. But it is getting better, especially as the swelling goes down.
That's it for now.
The fun continued today with my return to the good old physical therapy clinic. It is not expected that I will have to go there for very long and it was good to see the folks there again.
I am walking around again, only sometimes using my cane for support although I usually keep it handy just in case. I still have a few hot spots that always or nearly always hurt and others that only hurt when I walk. But it is getting better, especially as the swelling goes down.
That's it for now.
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