So I’m apparently terrible at blogging these days and I hope you don’t mind. Things have been busy and I’m still trying to get things sorted out for a lot of stuff I’m trying to do. This blog is going to be short but it’s an update on my health and what’s been going on in my life. I don’t have dates for some of it but for the stuff that I know the dates I will put it.
No Date
- My prealbumin has doubled; 16. Steve (my wound care doctor) wants it to be a little bit higher at 20 or above.
- We have to wait on my baclofen pump replacement before we can do my muscle flap surgery.
- I have to wait on both my baclofen pump replacement and muscle flap surgery before I can have surgery to release pressure on my T1-T2.
August 2
- We let the guinea pigs out of their cage for some floor time for the first time since I got them. It wasn’t exactly smooth sailing at first to say the least. Biscuits and Gravy didn’t left the hard wood floor at all. They would only sit there frozen until the girls (Madilyn and Hadley) put down some fleece strips down on the floor. The boys would only run around on these strips.
August 13
- Hadley spent the night with me. I enjoyed having her stay the night so much. It makes me feel good and loved. We watched Bones until we both fell asleep. I’m pretty sure I’m the one that went to sleep first if you want me to be honest.
August 14
- I started my IV antibiotic round one at a small clinic. I only have two doses. The appointment only lasted for an hour. The infusion was done in thirty minutes and then they had to monitor me for thirty minutes for any type of reaction.
August 21
- Mallory came to get all of the stuff that she left in her room when she decided to abandon her job and never come back. She picked through most of it of course and left a lot of stuff for me to deal with. When the room was packed up there were so much trash that it filled up a whole trash bag. It’s only fair that she take out her own trash, right? Well she didn’t.
August 23
- We were able to go through the stuff under my carport that mostly Tanner left which was trash and put some stuff in the shed. We also were able to put the rest of Mallory’s trash that she left on the trailer and haul it all off. The only thing we forgot was the mattress in the room to throw it away.
August 24
- I had my second round of antibiotics today and hopefully the last one. It was honestly a nightmare. The day started out great. Mia was with Jessica so I got to play with her the entire day. We get to the clinic and as I’m getting out of the van I think about the fact that we didn’t even grab the medicine before we left the house. So I load back up and we meet Derek halfway to grab the medicine and go back to the clinic. It first takes thirty minutes after putting me in a room before the nurse comes into the room. She poked me twice, digging around trying to get the vein she aimed for before giving up to get another nurse. The next nurse stuck me twice as well, digging around trying to get the veins. She thinks she hit a vein and starts to administer the medication only to discover it has infiltrated and the medication has been just going in the muscle of my left bicep. We pull out that line and they send for yet another person to try to get it. The next nurse looks at both arms deciding which one would be the best choice and decided to go for the veins in my right wrist. It took her a good few minutes of digging but she finally got it. The medicine only took a few minutes to administer versus the time it took to get the IV. Once the medication was done the nurses took out my line and I was free to go. I didn’t even have to stay the thirty minutes after the medication to check for reactions.
August 25
- I had to travel to Baton Rouge in order to see Dr. Bowie about my baclofen pump replacement. Baton Rouge is about three hours away from my house so in order to get there by my two o’clock appointment we had to leave by ten to give us enough time to stop and eat and get gas. When we get called to the back to see the doctor, a PA came in to find out what we were there for and then went to talk to the doctor. After a few minutes Dr. Bowie comes in and says that he didn’t put in the pump and we argued because I knew he done it. He went back into the hall for about three minutes before coming back and agreeing that he put it in for me. He agreed to replace it for me. It will be an outpatient procedure meaning that he would do it after clinic one day and I will get to come home the same day. There will be no hospital stay for this surgery which I am glad about. After we left the doctors office, we decided to go to Petco and look at what they had in stock. They had some beautiful fish. We also ordered IHOP, which was amazing. I got the strawberry banana pancakes which has been my go to dish for this restaurant for a long time now.
August 28
- I went to the local ER to get all of the pre-op lab work done. The lady drawing blood only had to stick me twice in order to get the necessary blood for the test. Once in both arms. I had to have a test run on my heart which took longer to put the twelve leads on my chest than it did to complete the test. Next on the list was a chest X-ray. The tech had to go get two other people to help hold me in the positions they needed me in. The only other test that they needed was a urine sample which was pretty easy to get.
- I had to go to wound care at ten this morning. We didn’t get in the back until after twelve, so we were there in the waiting room for two hours. I was not a very happy camper by the time we got to the back. I felt everything the doctor done to the wounds so I was trying to hold back tears. A few would slip out every once in a while.
- The scheduler for Dr. Bowie’s office called me and told me that surgery for my baclofen pump replacement would be no later than September 13th.
September 1st
- Jessica found a chicken snake in her washing machine. She was about to be loading the washer when she opened the lid to see the snake’s head. Little Mike and Papa had to come pull the washer out onto the porch and opening it up. The snake was curled up in the very bottom.
September 8-9
- We decided to set up a garage sale for the weekend of the big highway 84 garage sales. I had went through my office the day before and found a few things the first day that I wanted to get rid of and put them in a pile on the island. I even went through some of my china cabinets and got some of the relevant stuff to put in it. I sold a few wedding items and keychains that I made with my resin. When I was in my office I was trying to think about the fact that I don’t have my right hand and started getting rid of stuff I can’t do anymore. I want to actually be able to use my office this time. I have a lot of work to do in the office but I have a lot of work to do everywhere. I’ve even started a word document for projects and things I want to do when I’m healed.