Guest guest Posted September 14, 2002 Report Share Posted September 14, 2002 Debs, It is such a relief to hear from you. I wish the news was better. Although your road is a rough one, you¹re a fighter and will do what you have to do to get well. I admire you for your strength and courage. It¹s not easy living in such pain and having to do your own wound care and administer your IV¹s. You are blessed to have a family that loves and supports you. One day this will all be a nightmare in your past. I¹d be doing a lot of crying too if I were in your shoes. You¹ve been through so much. I just hope the worse is behind you and you¹re on your way to recovery. Hugs, a > Hi all my dear friends, > > Well, here is the latest. The sepsis is VERY slowly going away, however, my > knee has gotten increasingly worse. He took out the last remaining staples > and now I have a hole in my knee the size of a half dollar and goes down at > least 1/4 of an inch. I am currently doing wet to dry dressings twice a day > in order to save that skin. His first thought was to call a plastic surgeon > in and have him repair this hole, however, it the infection is not gone > completely, then he is doing me no favors. Option #2, is to go in and remove > the entire prosthesis, put in antibiotic treated cement in its place for > approximately 6-8 weeks, take me off the IV antibiotics after an 8 week > course, draw some cultures, make sure that the infection is COMPLETELY gone > and then schedule OR time to do the total knee replacement again. A lot of > hard work ahead of me. Most of my afternoons if not at the doctor's office, > I spend crying, don't want to cry in front of Ron or the girls, Monday I > didn't even care that I started crying in my ortho's office. I was in so > much pain and that was before I saw the hole in my knee. The big concern is > that the infection may have traveled to the left knee and the same problem > may be starting there. I still have the two ports in my chest right now. > The ortho is putting me in a different hospital as the one I was in is not > equipped to handle my type of condition. I will be going to one of the > trauma centers in the county. He feels that is the best possible place for > me. I don't smoke, but I do chew on straws and right about now, I am about a > 1 1/2 pack a day chewer! Well, at least, no calories or cancer! > > Thank you ALL from the bottom of my heart for all of your prayers, good > wishes, phone calls and cards. They were the very best medicine that I ever > could have received. I will love you all forever! > > Gentle, tender, pain free angel hugs to all, > > Debs in FL > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 15, 2002 Report Share Posted September 15, 2002 Kathe, Thank you so much for your support. It is thoughts like this that keep me going. Sometimes, it feels like I am fighting this battle all by myself. The infection is definitely in the bones in my leg and they will be doing testing to check on the status of my other knee replacement. I wish there was a book to follow that I could just go to a certain page to get the easy answers but there isn't, so I must go on my gut instinct and hope that it is right. My doctor is using a team approach to this situation when we go to the trauma center on Tuesday or Wednesday. I have been in this hospital before and wasn't too dazzled by it, but it is a hospital and not a country club and hopefully my time there will be short and they will take care of the problem. I have never been so sick in my life and never so scared either. When you hear the word arthritis, you never really realize how systemic it can be. The physician has me on 15 mg of percocet which is not really helping the pain at all today. The visiting nurse for the dressing changes left today, so I am on my own there and the nurse for the IV ports comes tomorrow to change the dressings. So between doctor's appts and nursing visits, I have become a slave to the medical field.....the one thing that I have always dreaded with this disease. I have a friend who just thrives on this and wishes she were in my shoes!!!!!! Sick puppy! I am still looking for that light at the end of the tunnel even though it seems like a pinhole right now. I am praying that it will get bigger day by day. I need all your prayers and good wishes right now and value my friendship with all of you more than I can put into words. Hope that you are holding your own! I guess I will be off Remicade for quite a while, well I will worry about that later. Gentle, tender, angel hugs, Debs in FL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 15, 2002 Report Share Posted September 15, 2002 Dear Debs: I am so glad you are doing some email. It is nice to hear from you. I just hope you will be feeling a lot better soon. Being sick is sure no fun. Hang in there, I know you can do it. Love, Ya Colletti Anjillah@...[unable to display image] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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