We have medical supplies in almost every room.
We've been on a bit of a "recovery roller-coaster" since I was discharged from the hospital a week and a half ago.
I was discharged with a portable Wound Vac for home use (24/7) and I have a home-care nurse who comes every Monday, Wednesday and Friday to change the dressing and evaluate the incision.
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| My portable Wound Vac |
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| It's nice to have a carrying case for the Wound Vac! |
I was also sent home taking the oral antibiotic, Ciprofloxacin. Unfortunately, after a few days, I began to experience very negative side effects from the medication...extreme fatigue, nausea and horrible dizziness.
By Saturday (11/12), the side effects had gotten so bad that I had to call my infectious disease doctor, and he instructed me to stop taking the Cipro for the rest of the weekend to see if I felt better.
I felt MUCH better :)
So Monday morning he prescribed Levofloxacin, which is very similar to Cipro, but some people have an easier time tolerating one versus the other. Unfortunately, for me, the side effects were the same as the Cipro, only this time I was vomiting as well.
I called my doctor that evening and he told me it was time to have a PICC line put in so that I could receive IV antibiotics at home.
He ordered the PICC line on Tuesday, however, our insurance company took quite a while to approve it. Because I had gone a while without antibiotics (and we still hadn't heard from our insurance), on Wednesday evening, my doctor had me go to the ER to receive a dose of the IV antibiotics. Then I had to go again on Thursday evening (ER visits are not fun and not cheap).
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| IV antibiotics in the ER :( |
Finally on Friday, we got the approval from our insurance. I had the PICC line placed this morning (Saturday), so now I will be receiving my new IV antibiotics at home!
I am taking Cephtriaxone for six weeks and then we will reevaluate. I get one dose every 24 hours (which I am learning how to administer myself!) and then I'll have the dressing on my PICC line changed every week (this is a sterile process, so it has to be done by a nurse). I already have my wound vac dressing changed three times per week, so my nurse will also change the PICC line dressing during one of those visits.
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| New PICC line |
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| Everything that goes into the PICC line for each daily dose of antibiotics |
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| Getting ready for my first dose! |
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| One step closer to getting my M.D. :) |
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| To protect the PICC line when it's not in use, the nurse suggested cutting a tube sock to cover it :) I've already ordered myself some knee-high Christmas socks to cut and start using the day after Thanksgiving ;) |
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| Our dining room has become my "hospital room" |
We are feeling so relieved now that I'm receiving the IV antibiotics...it had been a very stressful week knowing that I wasn't getting the medicine to help fight this infection and prevent it from spreading to the hardware or my bones.
I saw my orthopedic surgeon this past Thursday, and overall he was happy with how my incision looks, especially considering how long I had gone without antibiotics. He's having me continue to use the Wound Vac 24/7 for another two weeks and he will reevaluate the incision at that point. He's hopeful that it should be healed enough to remove the stitches then. He did, however, instruct me to no longer bear any weight (even on my heel) for the next two weeks. I've had a significant increase in pain this past week, but luckily it's become much more tolerable since I was told to stop walking on it (as inconvenient as it is).
However, our moods went a bit downhill yesterday.
When my nurse came for my Wound Vac dressing change, we unfortunately found that another hole is developing along the incision, with infected tissue at the bottom. This hole was not there 24 hours earlier. We're confused about why it's there...I had already received two doses of the IV antibiotics and I had been non-weight bearing since we last looked at the incision (when the hole wasn't there). We know that the healing process can take a long time, but it's not typical for the incision to get worse. And we also know that things can develop/change extremely fast with this type of infection.
My nurse was concerned. She called both my orthopedic surgeon and infectious disease doctor to let them know. We're really hoping that my incision will improve by keeping the Wound Vac in place and consistently administering the IV antibiotics. We won't get to see the incision again until my next dressing change on Monday. If there is no improvement, I will need to have it looked at by one of my doctors (currently my next appointments are scheduled for the week after Thanksgiving).
Our emotions have been ALL over the place for the past few weeks. One minute we think we have things under control and are headed in a positive direction, and then we receive more concerning news.
We're discouraged.
This is no longer about the inconvenience of recovering from four surgeries. For the first time, this past week I broke down with the thought of, "What if..."
We're scared.
