(PAMELA)
A lot sure has happened since our last update……
Surgery #12 was done on November 18th, and
things seemed to be going
well….I was scheduled to return to the Dr
on December 7th to have my
stitches removed and get a new cast put on.
All I really can recall from that
visit is that it was TREMENDOUSLY painful
when they took them out….but
that isn’t always unusual, because the cast
will rub on them and irritate them.
I left KC thinking I was home free now….the
surgery they did consisted of a
HUGE metal rod that (in the x-rays that I
have seen) runs from the bottom of
my foot, ¾ the way up inside my large
leg bone. The Dr had done a couple of
bone grafts as well; one right under my knee
and one from my heel, so I had
a few new interesting scars *SIGH* I went
home feeling very optimistic
about the whole situation….
By December 10th, I was starting to feeling
ill; and as the days went by, I
came to a point to where sitting in front
of the computer had become
unbearable (which should give some insight
into the state I was in *grin*)
When my foot started burning, I decided it
was time to get back to the Dr
and see what the problem was. I made the call
on Dec. 14th and he had me
back in his office by December 17th. I began
to realize I might be in for
more trouble than I had bargained for when
the Nurse was removing the
cast….I had NEVER felt pain like that! Then
we saw the foot—it was a
deep purply/black on the outer left side,
and swollen 4 times its normal
size…and to make it worse, there was icky
stuff (technical term there) in it.
The Dr was brought in the room immediately,
took one look and confirmed
that we had an extremely serious situation
on our hands. I had a blatantly
obvious and deep infection, which would have
to be drained immediately
and then operated on once again *SIGH* He
cut it open and began
draining in his office. It was the first time
I actually cried from pain through
this whole ordeal …..and I hope to NEVER again
feel that!!!!! This is the
closest I have came to losing my foot since
the night of the accident *sigh*
If I would have waited any longer, they would
have had no choice….
I was admitted back into the hospital (at this
point, we were 8 days away
from Pascal’s arrival) and taken to surgery
to irrigate the wounds and find
out just what type of infection we were dealing
with…..At this point, I talked
to Pascal and told him if he wanted to put
off his visit for a while, it was okay
with me. Well, he said under no uncertain
terms he was going to be here!
He was going nutty with worry by this time
anyway, and pointed out that if
it was him instead of me, I would be reacting
the same (He was right :o))
Of course, (and you will learn this about me)
I never seem to be able to do
anything halfway….the infection turned out
to be a very tough form of Staph
.Mycelitic (sp?) resistant. Only one drug
on the market that could beat it *SIGH*
And it was ingrained into the bone as well
as the soft tissue; which meant I had
more than likely had it since the beginning,
and it picked now to come out….
By the 20th, things seemed to be looking up.
My toes were back to normal
color, which made me think we were on the
right path…then the Dr came in
to check my foot and low and behold, the OTHER
side of my foot had broken
out with the same damn thing *AHHHH!* I returned
for surgery number 15
immediately. Then they took me straight to
Infectious Diseases where I had
a Picc line placed in my arm. (in layman’s
terms is an extremely long-lasting
IV that is threaded directly to my heart)
One of the nurses who was assisting with my
operation also happened to be
my best friend’s sister (can you believe the
luck? *Grin*) and she told the
Dr our sad little story of Pascal coming for
Christmas and me being in the
hospital….and he was the greatest….made sure
I was home by December
23rd *YAY*
I had to bring an IV pole home with me and
a huge mess of Vancomycin (was
going to say drug of choice, but is the ONLY
drug in this case) and began a
twice daily ritual of a nurse coming to my
home at 8am to hook me up for an
hour, and then returning at 8pm to repeat
the process….which is still
continuing as of this writing (3-6-99)
Pascal’s plane was scheduled to land in Tulsa
Christmas night, at 10:05.
Clearly, I couldn’t go get him, so my mother
and her brother and his family
went to get him (see, they just love him already
*Giggle*) Leslie came to
my house to help me get ready….really, how
good can you be looking after
all this>?<*IEEK*
I was all worried about his reaction when he
stepped in the door, and the
fact that we couldn’t really go do anything
this time, unless I planned on
dragging an IV pole and a nurse with us *Sad*
But the second I saw
him, it was like a huge relief to have him
here….and I knew he had made
the right decision to come. One thing you
learn quickly about long distance
relationships is that any time spent together,
no matter what the
circumstances, is quite precious!
And as tired as he was after the flight, we
waited until everyone had left
and he gave me my Christmas present….a beautiful
engagement ring *Blush*
(Not only is he handsome and smart, he has
wonderful taste too *Giggle*)
In spite of the fact that we couldn’t go very
far, we still had an absolutely
wonderful time just being together :o) And
we now know for sure that if we
can handle something like this, we can handle
ANYTHING that comes along!
He even stayed overnight in the hospital with
me when I had to return for
a glitch in my Picc line….he is soooooo wonderful!!!
While Pascal was here, he signed the appropriate
paperwork for the K-1
visa, and we opened a bank account here in
town. Yes, this is possible. (See
our K-1 Nightmare for more details) Our engagement
announcement came
out in the local newspaper on January 13th,
so everywhere we went, people
were congratulating us and wishing us luck…it
was neat *giggle*
Soo, up to this date, we are playing the waiting
game; talking every day and
working on wedding plans, and I am working
on getting RID of this picc line
before long *Hope* They measure by way of
a Sed rate (something about
the amount of inflammation in my body; 0-20
is the range we are shooting
for, and I am sitting at 26 right now *YAY*)
And at my last appointment,
which was on February 18th, the Dr confirmed
that I was healing nicely
now, and I am relearning to walk *HAPPY DANCE*
:o) My goal is to
be able to walk down the aisle without limping….so
cross your fingers!!!!
