Memory Lane

It has been frustratingly chaotic here.  A few days after my surgery to remove my infected port, the doctor called and told me the lab had tested my port and the infection would not succumb to the oral antibiotics.  He told me to get to the hospital asap to get a picc line installed so they could start me on iv antibiotics.

So, lets see. . . .I had a port to  administer iv antibiotics, but it got infected so they removed it, only to replace it with a picc line to give me iv antibiotics.  Okay.  That isn’t ironic or anything.

The procedure should have taken an hour, during which they push a catheter in my inner arm up through my shoulder to my superior vena cava (the same vein my port fed into) just above my heart.  Notsomuch. The x-ray showed the catheter had done a curly-q in my chest and had to be pulled back.  Then, when the nurse tried to straighten it and make it point down toward my heart, it flipped up and went in my neck.  Every time she flushed it with saline, it felt like a goldfish was swimming the backstroke in my neck.  Finally, they hooked me up to a continuous x-ray machine and she nailed it in a few minutes.

The next day, the doctor called to say he couldn’t get home health care on board and that I had to go to the hospital for my first infusion.  He told me I might have to spend up to two nights there.  He was hoping they would discharge me the same day, but couldn’t make any promises.

I lucked out and got to come home that evening.  Actually, where I lucked out is that I didn’t become septic, which results in death in half of the cases.

I have to do three infusions per day.

Now the bad news.  Either the stress of the surgery, the infection, the picc line installation, etc. or the new antibiotic has pissed off my Lyme.  My pain has returned to what it was about eight months ago, my hands and feet have swollen up, my left arm stopped lifting more than half way, and my right knee has blown up again.  It isn’t a cantaloupe like last time, but it is noticeably larger and it is HOT to the touch.  I had been cutting my Fentanyl patch in half and rarely taking a Vicodin.  I am back to the full patch and taking Vicodin to even get out of bed.  Even with the pain meds, I am still in huge amounts of pain.

I’m not enjoying this limp down memory lane.