Monday, May 03, 2021

2019, One Hell of a Year

Ah, 2019. The first three months were fairly uneventful. Even April started out OK. Terry and I made the trip into New Jersey again to help celebrate one of my sister's granddaughter's birthdays. But after that, things started to go down hill for me. 

 In mid-April we had a friendly dog show up on our porch. In the rain, of course. Still, it was a real friendly pup. We took it in and, when the rain stopped, we went around the area seeing if it belonged to anyone. The answer was no. It got along well with the cats who mostly ignored it. I posted her picture on Facebook asking if anyone knew to whom she belonged and got only one sketchy reply. We took it to the vets and they said it wasn't chipped so it was ours if we chose. Terry said under no circumstances were we keeping this pooch. I should have insisted but.... So off she went to Animal Rescue over in East Smithfield. She never appeared on their web cite as an option for adoption so she probably never got past the entrance before a staff member took her home. 

Around the time the pooch showed up, I developed a severe pain in my left big toe that forced me to stop doing anything that required me to be on my feet. My primary care Nurse Practitioner and I thoujgh I had stubberd my toe somehow and the pain was in one of the joints. A steroid regimine was prescribed and seemed to do the trick.  

  But in early May another problem arose. I developed large, watery blisters on two of the smaller toes of my left foot. Another visit to the NP. Severe athlete's foot? Whatever. I treated it with plenty of antifungal creams and powders. Wore sandals for a week to let my feet breath. And it worked. The blisters disappeared and my feet felt better than they had in a long time.  

  They felt so good that I felt capable of doing yard work and so I did. Memorial Day weekend I dropped a couple of ash trees that were stricken by the borer and on their last legs. I left them to finish budding out on the ground. (It draws moisture out of the trunk.) THe rest of the week I did some cleaning up of small trees and wild roses in and around the yard. All in all, I did more than I should and less than what was needed. Still, it's a good thing I had decided to let Joe take his son and granddaughter fishing this year as I stayed home. 

  The night of Saturday, June 1, I had trouble falling asleep because of what I thought was cramping in my left calf muscle. I had been getting cramps off and on for years but this one was persistent. I sat up in bed for much of the night massaging my calf trying to get the cramping to go away. Finally I had enough and went to the bathroom on the main floor where we had a tub I could soak in without using too much water. I soaked in that hot water for nearly an hour but the cramping didn't go away. When I got out of the tub, I was alarmed to see my left foot was blue! After being in the hot water it should have been red or at least pink like the right foot. Terry, who was now up and dressed for church took one look and said, "Let's go to the hospital. Now!" 

  The ER at Troy Hospital was anything but busy on a Sunday morning ao I got a physician to look at my foot STAT! as they say. In fact, I had two or three looking at my foot when one of them said, very Doctor McCoy like, "That foot's dead!" His buddies agreed and it was suggested I get myself to the ER at Robert-Packer Hospital in Sayre. "Do you want to wait for an ambulance, or do you have someone who can drive you over there right now?" "Let's go, Terry."  

  I'm going to say she didn't speed, but we sure did get there in a hurry. 

  The ER at Robert-Packer was expecting me and I was wheeled (by now I was in a wheelchair because the pain was excruciating) in to an examination room and soon had vascular surgeons looking me over and two hours later I was on the table and under the knife.  

  A blood clot had formed in the only remaining artery feeding blood/oxygen to my left foot. (The pain and the blisters in/on my toes were smaller vessels being blocked off by clots.) I was on the table for almost eight hours as they searched for a vein to use as a bypass.  

  I spent several days in the hospital as they wanted to make sure the blood was flowing through the bypass. Then I went to a long term care and rehab facility where I got to exercise my legs and take my meds regularly. The exercising was a challenge because of the number of staples (over 50) and stitches they used to close the cuts on the inside of my leg (from groin to ankle) and on the outside of my shin (knee to ankle). Two weeks later I went and got half the staples out and went home.  

  I continued physical therapy locally. and as the next appointment for removal of staples approached, my therapist said she noticed a hard lump near the top of the incision on the inside of my thigh. Plus, she said it felt warm. It was her recommendation that I call my vascular doctor so I did. They recommended that I get myself to the ER at Robert-Packer ASAP. (Not quite as big a rush but still important.) So we went off to the hospital's ER--on a Friday night. I know. Bad timing.  

  We sat for a couple of hours before I got taken in to an examining room. Then I was prepped for the OR where they cut into that lump to suck out all the infectious puss that had accumulated. They left the wound open to allow it to drain and put me in a bed for two days hooked up to several IV's dripping antibiotics into me while they tested the crap to see what kind of bug was causing the infection. Dressings were changed every day. While the 1-1/2 inch deep by 2-1/2 inch long started healing, they removed the rest of the staples. When they finally sent me home, it was with a portable wound vac to continue removing the bad stuff as I healed. A visiting nurse came every other day to inspect the wound and teach Terry how to pack the hole with cotton gauze.  

  It took a few weeks but I eventually could get that vac detached and pronounce the wound closed. Unfortunately, it was about that time that it was found that the bypass was pinching closed and blood flow to the left foot was decreasing. An angioplasty was required. Think Roto-rooter for your blood vessels. I would have another of these procedures every three months until September of 2020. I rang up a total of four plus one stay for observation. 

  Those angioplasts would have me staying in the hospital overnight. The last was brought about when I reported some pain just above my knee. A pressure test showed a reduced blood flow necessitating an angioplasty. Several months later February of 2021?) I reported it felt like someone had hit me in the lower thigh with a cricket bat. Pressure tests were showing good blood flow. Still, as a precaution they kept me over night for observation. 

Needless to say, I didn't go anywhere from June 2nd on. Except to the hospital and rehab that is. Terry didn't go anywhere either as I sort of anchored her here. We did have some visitors around Thanksgiving but we didn't go to NJ at all for birthday parties or Christmas. 

 I was happy to turn the calendar page to 2020. Little did I know!

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