Archive for the ‘medical adventures’ Category

Tuesday is the New Thursday

Tuesday, May 24, 2016
Happy Thur… er Tuesday All!!!
Well, hasn’t it just been a most eventful couple of weeks? It’s rhetorical … it has been.
Ok… where did we leave off?  Ummmm…. waiting for surgery I do believe.  So that was Friday the 13th.  13 is lucky in Chinese Culture and we are sticking with that.
Let’s roll back to Monday before the surgery.  After a long day at the office I go out to get in my car (scooter in scoot) and Rrrrrrrr nothing.  Rrrrrrrrr nothing.  Really!? So I call David & AAA in that order at 4:30pm.  At 8 pm (NEVER EVER tell AAA you are in a safe location it bumps you to the bottom of the tow list) Ronaldo final comes to tow Ruby to the garage.  Thank God for Chris Ann who came and kept me company and listened to my whine (we were are work so no wine!).  It was the fuse panel. We had it replace.
Tuesday before surgery I work up with a huge nagging pain in my shoulder.  I figured I had just slept wrong and it would go away.  No biggie right?  Wrong.  But we will get there. So the rest of the work week was a bit difficult because of the pain which didn’t seem to be diminishing. We’ll get there.
Surgery day.  Other than starting horribly early it went mostly well.  The automatic BP cuff was on WAY too tight during surgery and left little marks on my arm.  So I really made the surgery center nervous when I told them that.  So I have finally lost my screws (giggle) and 6/1 will be able to put weight back on my foot again.  Yup, I’m back to scootering until Dr. Very Handsome is convinced the hole in my bone where the screw was is healing.
Moving on.  The pain in my shoulder really didn’t abate so I went to the Quick Care by mom on the Sunday following surgery and had a fainting spell.  Yup!  I figured it was lack of food, pain and a hot flash all rolled into one. It was very exciting.  But I had my very first (this is a year of 1st’s for me) EKG and it came out just perfect.  And I got a prescription for muscle relaxers which did diddly squat.
Scootering forward to one week after my waking up in pain I went to my GP and she gave me something else that did diddly squat.  And so I started taking 2 Advil every 2 hours.  Yeah, I know. Shhhhhhhh. I’m not taking them anymore.  And yes, I ate something with each and every dose.  I’ve eaten more crackers in the last 2 weeks than I’ve eaten in the last 2 years.  I was thinking of buying stock in Keebler!
So after the pain didn’t subside I got an appointment with Dr. To The Point last who just happens to be in the same practice as Dr. Very Handsome.  So today I had a whole new round of X-Rays with my favorite X-Ray Tech Jess.  Well I got the good/bad news on my shoulder pain.  It’s not my shoulder.  It’s my vertebra. The disk between C4 & 5 is a degenerate.  Oh wait… it’s degenerating. That’s it. So Dr. To The Point prescribed that steroid pack that you take a whole boat load of pills to 1 pill in a week.  So looking on the bright side… it’s not a new condition. It’s been like that for a while.  I irritated the nerve when I slept soundly on Monday (when my car let me down). And I did sleep. I didn’t move all night long.  More good news.  This isn’t going to happen again. (Well the doctor said might, but I’m not claiming that.) The other good news is the steroids seem to be working already and I’ve only had 1 dose.  My elbow hurts, but it’s not that sharp, stabbing, please cut my arm off, pain.  And same with my shoulder.
Didn’t I just slam into 50 and trip right on over it? But that’s it. I’m done. No more illnesses for me.
Oh I forgot.  Thursday a last week I finally did what I didn’t want to do.  I tripped over my scooter and face planted in the office.  I banged up both my knees (left one much worse than the right) put a huge bruise on my left hand and, well, thought I aggravated my shoulder. Which wasn’t the case.  Talk about embarrassing.  But I have the best co-workers! They all came running to make sure I wasn’t dead. 
So that is long and the long of it.  Over all it’s not great news… but it’s not bad AND I’ve been able to type this whole e-mail without stopping or without much pain.  My darling Beloved David has been wonderful.  He keeps going to the doctor’s appointments with me and asking the questions I miss.  My mother is a saint for putting up with my increasingly (and now decreasingly) crabby self.
And that campers is my last 2 weeks.  Love to everyone!
T

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The Zombie Waddle and other forms of Locomotion

Thursday, May 5, 2016
[singing badly off key]
Everybody’s doing a brand-new walk, now
(Come on baby, do the locomotion)
Sorry…!
Happy Thursday!  I hope this finds everyone happy and healthy.
Well, it’s been 1 week since I’ve been able to put full weight on my foot and who’da thunk walking would hurt so much?  I guess I did somewhere in the back of my little brain.  I’m still using the scooter & crutches a bit, especially in the morning.  But I’ve really progressed to mostly walking without a cane or crutch.  Mainly because I can’t find a cane with a sword in it that I like.  But I’m still looking!
I finally got a pair of shoes that give me enough lift so I’m not hurting my left knee and right hip.  I really felt like an overdressed extra from a bad Mummy or Zombie movie.  I wanted to moan and make mummy/zombie noises while I was shuffling about.  But now I’m more like a Weeble.  I’m not going anywhere fast right now, but at least I am going forward (mostly).  This HAS been quite an adventure.
We’ve scheduled my pin pull surgery for next Friday 5/13. I won’t know what time until between 1 and 3 on Thursday.  Pray with me that it’s not too early (mornings … blech!) or too late (I have to fast, no nothing including water).  Dr. Very Handsome said it would take him about 10-15 minutes to remove the pin and sew me back up.  Hey… we have a set of DeWalts… I guess we should let the surgeon do the surgeony stuff.  Then it’s 2 more weeks of the boot and then…?  I guess we will find out on the follow up appointment that will pull the staples and X-ray (yet again) the ankle.  Who knows if I will ever make it to Physical Therapy.
So until … when? Probably the 19th I won’t have much to update, unless there is something super exciting happening.  Calm and peaceful is good right now.
Have a WONDERFUL rest of the week!
Big HUGS!
T

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One Small Step…

Thursday, April 28, 2016
One small step for mankind … one giant leap… Ok. Let’s be real, It’s one small waddle for me.  I won’t be leaping anywhere any time soon.
So here’s the scoop.  I am walking in the boot [insert Kermit Yay here]. And boooy is it tiring.  So I’m not giving up the scooter just yet, plus I can’t put much weight on it without the boot.  I’m definitely not ready to do stairs.  And I would like to thank my sexy hunk of man for asking the question … can I sleep without a brace!! The answer was “sure”! If I could have danced I would have. 
The bad news is … Doctor Very Handsome is moving to Wisconsin in June so we need to do the 2nd surgery in May or early June now.  But the good news on that is … it’s a Friday in/out thing.
No word on physical therapy. That will now happen after the next surgery.  I can wait.  I’m still not ready for the volleyball team yet, but I should be by… well, I won’t sign up quite yet.
So that’s the short of it.  Have a great weekend everyone!!
T

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The Big 5 Oh!

Thursday, April 14, 2016
Wooooooooo Hooooooooooooo!  Two weeks have passed and I’m at the Big Five Oh! 
 
What? No! Not the Big 5-0 years old. I’m taking about 50% weight on my left foot.  The 5 oh years old thingy happens tomorrow.  But that’s not important right now. Walking people! Walking is the important bit.
 
I’ve been slowly adding a little weight over the last 2 weeks. It still hurts a bit when I put a good bit of weight down on the foot, but it’s getting there.  And that’s only because I haven’t walked on the foot since … Good Lord! Over 3 months.  Crutches are going to be so much easier now that I can put some weight on my foot.  Although the scooter is still my main squeeze until I can walk.
 
And for those of you who are as confused as I was on the how do you know how much weight is 50% weight.  25% is basically foot down on the floor and using it to keep your balance. 50% is slight more complicated and involves a scale and memory.  And for me, sucking it up and hopping up [insert laugh track here] on the scale.
 
So that is it from the trenches for now.  Thanks for tuning in!
Love, Hugs & Other signs of affection one can do in public.
T
 
PS – if you want me to stop sending you these things, just send me an e-mail telling me to STOP! You can’t take me anymore.

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The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Saturday, April 2, 2016

Happy Thursday! 

Today was the a follow up doctor’s  … Now that I think about it … I don’t think I’ve ever seen that movie. Sorry… off topic (again).

Today was the a follow up doctor’s appointment.  And we had some good news, some not so good news and some “get out your video camera people” news.

The Good:  Me!  I am healing nicely and I was told I am being a good patient!  How about that?  I am trying to be positive and do as the Doctors say.  David looked at the x-rays and said the Mona Lisa doesn’t look any better than they do.  I think he’s exaggerating just a bit.  The PA is pleased with my progress and the shattered bone is knitting (of course my bones knit!) back together.  Also my night brace was approved (I’ve only been wearing it for 2 weeks) as long as I don’t try to walk in it.  Girl Scouts Honor – it’s only for sleeping aaaaaannnnd maybe lounging about the house.  No weight bearing.

The Bad: I’m just over half way into this.  I have at least 4 more weeks of scootering about.  But I can start to put weight on my foot 25% for 2 weeks graduating up to 50% – as long as it is in the boot.  Then in 4 weeks another round of x-ray’s and assuming all is healing as it currently is then we begin physical therapy.  So I’m looking at probably 6 to 8 more weeks of scooter & boot.  The doctors are being very conservative and this seems to be taking forever because of the shattered bone.

The Ugly: Me on crutches!  Ok maybe not ugly, but giraffe on roller skates does come to mind.  I need to be slightly more car friendly on 4/26 (the PA Primary Election) so I got crutches today.  I will need a lot of practice between now and then.  Get out your video cameras … this might just go viral.

And finally surgery to remove the pin.  PA Cutie Pie called the pin by its technical name.  Yeah, ummm the big pin is what we will call it.  That’s a good news type thing.  It has to be in place 12 weeks.  Ok we are 11 weeks from when the placed it in my person.  Only one more week and it can come out.  Which isn’t really convenient time wise for me.  No problem, it can stay in until after I can walk again.  As a matter of fact some doctors never remove the pins unless they break.  Ummm, break?  Isn’t that what started this whole mess – a break? Thank God that’s not the philosophy of this office – they like to remove the pins while they are still intact.  I like that too.

So that’s the news from Lake Woebeme.  It’s not all great, but it’s all good and I am moving forward.  So watch out for your toes!

Hugs!

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Whoops!

Thursday, March 24, 2016

I realized that in my tale telling last week the entirety of David’s (My Beloved, My Darling) involvement was reduced to … “So off the ER David & I go.” and everyone else got thank you’s.   For those of you who are completely lost as to why I was off to the ER, e-mail me and I’ll catch you up.

“So off the ER David & I go.”  One little sentence involved so much more –  such as picking me up off the floor and hopping me 20 feet across the front yard.  Did I mention the front yard slops uphill?  On a normal day hopping 20 feet across the front yard would be challenging.  That was not a good day.  He was with me most of day in the hospital – only leaving when the staff kicked him out of the room.

He’s the one who kicked me out of the house – which is a good thing because stair and I aren’t on friendly terms yet.  (ok… kicked is harsh, suggested in very strong terms I should stay with mom until I can walk)  He’s my cheerleader.  He’s been silly on the days that I need silly.  He’s my rock.  He’s driven all over Chester & Lancaster counties for me.   And not least of all … he’s in charge of the cats until I can get home to help.

“So off the ER David & I go.”  I almost completely neglected him.  He is a most wonderful and caring husband and I am very blessed that his is mine.

This time next week I will have the answer to the question… “What’s up Doc?”

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Two Week Rain Delay

Thursday, March 17, 2016

Happy Thursday Everyone.

Or it would be if the Doctor & the PA (BOTH) were out of the office with the flu. So … wait, what do you mean what’s going on?

Ok. Let’s step back (*giggles* – it’ll be funny in bit) from the beginning for those who don’t know what’s going on.  For those of you who do and don’t want to hear (read) the story again, just jump on down to the last bit.  For those who are new to the story … ready?

I was in a bar brawl.  Yup.  Broke 2 bones in my left ankle, shattered a 3rd and tore some ligaments.  Something about a high tear…  What do you mean “you don’t think so”?  I did I broke my … oh you mean the bar brawl.  Well, it sound so much more exciting than I was doing my laundry and fell down the last 2 steps. 

On 1/12 at 8:09 am as I was leaving for work I was taking the laundry to the basement.  The sheets I was carrying wrapped around my feet and down I went.  And surprisingly not one cat was involved.  So off the ER David & I go.  Several hours and surgery later I was the proud owner of a plate, many permanent screws, 1 temporary screw and a nice temporary cast.   I tried crutches while I was in the hospital – think giraffe on roller skates – so they sent me home with a walker.  Yeah. I don’t feel like 100 years old now!  9 days after that a very nice young lady removed the temporary cast and put me in a very pretty purple non-weight baring fiber glass cast.  Which surprisingly & thankfully didn’t itch too much.  And shortly after that one of the BEST bosses in the entire world loan me her knee scooter (she broke her leg a year early) so I could get from point a (the bed) to point b (the potty) without drama, exhaustion and braking another body part.  It also opened up the entirety of mom’s house.  Oh, I didn’t mention that part.  Yeah, I’m rehabbing at mom’s in New Holland because her house is really designed for old people.

4 weeks later – obviously I was healing according to plan because the same very nice young lady (don’t ask me her name even though she’s told me, I forget) moved me into a walking cast (or boot).  Still non-weight baring BUT I released me to drive and go back to work.  My drive went from 25 minutes to about an hour which kinda stinks.  But the food is sooooooooooo much better!!!  Mom lives 10 minutes from Shady Maple (oh yeah!)  Oh Right, there are those of you who are wondering why I’m excited about a tree.  Shady Maple is a smorgasbord with very good food, not a tree.

I have been so fortunate!  I really work for and with an awesome group of people who have been wonderfully supportive.  And Mom.  Where would I be without her!  She has been just amazing!

Stepping back to today [insert rim shot here].  I was supposed to go for x-ray’s and then I guess setting a date for removing the temporary pin that is holding the ligaments together.  But PA Cutie Pie and Dr. Very Handsome have the flu.  (Ok so that’s not exactly their real names… you’ll forgive me if I don’t bother checking out that part.)  Did I mention that they didn’t call the right number?  No? They didn’t.  We just won’t know for 2 weeks now whether or not the ligaments have healed correctly.  

We could do a soap opera style thing here.  (said in best dramatic voice) Have her ligaments healed?  Are the bones strong enough to support her weight? Will the Doctor or the PA be well enough to read the x-ray?  Tune in to find out on the next dramatic episode of “On Crazy Cat Farms”.  Or something like that.

So thanks for the read along.  I’ll send everyone an update (MUCH SHORTER update) in 2 weeks.

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Klutz-o-rama

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Hi. My name is Tacie and I’m a klutz.

The town I work in recently redid all the sidewalks and curbs with very nice brick sidewalks and granite curbs.  The upgrades look very nice and very historic. However, when the curbs get wet they get slicker then snot covered ice. We’ve had a dry spell lately so the grease and grime and oil have had a chance to build up the curbs.

Enter the monsoon.  We are in the middle of almost 24 hours of pretty steady rain.  The local creeks and rivers are flooding (the Brandywine Creek is estimated to crest 14 feet over flood stage tomorrow at 3 pm).  We had tornado warnings until 7 pm tonight – thank God none appeared.  But it hasn’t stopped raining and is predicted to go until at least 1 am.  And since weathermen can’t tell what the weather is doing unless their head is out a window (I have a weather cat who is more accurate – but that’s a post for another day) who know when it will end.

Enter the clutz.  I was walking from my parking garage to my office when I went tushy over tincups on one of those slicker than snot curbs.  I was wearing flip flops and I really went down hard on my left knee and I twisted my right ankle.  I just thank God for 2 things – 1 it wasn’t pouring when I went down so I only got slightly wet and 2 my coworker Bob was right behind me.  Thank you Bob!!! Make that 3 things… I didn’t rip or tear or soil any of my clothing.  Bob helped me up and would have waited and walked up to the office with me, but I shooed him along.  After all – it took me quite a while to get to the office and there was no sense on both of us being late!

I did manage to make it all day at the office.  I iced my swollen ankle and put a big old band aide on my skinned knee.  Which involved walking (limping) down the hall to the ladies room in my barefeet.  I wasn’t putting those rotten flip flops back on.  And don’tcha know, I ran smack dab into the HR director!  But I was with my boss discussing my injuries.  What I didn’t realize until I home was how swollen my knee is.  WOW! It’s huge. Which explains why it hurts so much and won’t bend much. I must have hit the edge of the curb or something.  So here I sit on the couch, ice pack (aka bag of frozen corn) on my left knee and right ankle wrapped in an ace bandage.  And it really is an Ace bandage.

Here’s the fun part.  We only have 1 bathroom – upstairs.  And walking up the stairs is just not fun.  Since my left knee doesn’t bend without pain. I’m guess a doctor’s visit is in my very near future if I can’t get the swelling down. Assuming I can get back across the Brandywine.  I’ve been upstairs twice tonight.  Next time I’m not coming back downstairs.  Or I’ve gotta get a port-o-potty down in the living room so I don’t have to keep going up and down.  Up is a lot easier than down. I’ve been coming down on my butt.

Thank you BP! I would not have made it into the office today without you. And thanks for checking up on me to make sure I was still alive and kicking.  And with that… I gotta use the bathroom – again.  And my frozen corn isn’t.

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Code Purple

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

I forgot. I learned that at Chester County Hospital Code Purple means that all the beds are full and there are people waiting in the ER for beds.

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Surgery

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

On 7/10 I had some girl surgery and an appendectomy. When the surgeon went in for the girl bits Dr. Askinas noticed the appendix was not right and to prevent me from having surgery in the future took the appendix. That was good news and bad news. So this is my experience with the surgery and my stay in Chester County Hospital.

My surgery was scheduled for 7:30 am which meant that I had to be at the hospital at 5:30 am. Total yuck! But my Beloved David had me to CCH on time. Mom was already there. There were about 7 or so people in the waiting room. The nurse that took us back to start the process was one of the nurses that had taken care of Dad when he was having chemo. She is very nice. She put me in this purple gown called “Bair Paws” that had all these little ports in it. The ports were for hot air. According to the research, if the core temperature is kept up prior to surgery post surgery healing doesn’t take as long. It was nice. After all my vitals were taken, they took us upstairs to the recovery room. Mom stayed and David left, but only after I was settled in the recovery room. All the nurses and anethesia folks came over and introduced themselves. About 7:40 Dr. Askinas came over asked me if I was ready, the nurse said “I’m putting the medicine in” and within a minute I was completely out. It was like I was drunk. I looked to the right and next thing I knew I was waking up with a pain in my belly.

I have no idea how long I was in the recovery room. I think my co-worker’s Mom was in the bed next to me in the recovery room. Towards the end of my stay in recovery they brought in a little one who was in a lot of pain and he was screaming his head off.

They took me to room 157W. Mom left shortly after they brought me up. Which was ok because they started me on a morphine push when I was in recovery. I did a whole lot of sleeping. They wanted me to sit up to listen to my lungs. Ooooooowwwwwww!!!! That hurt like crazy. I had a perfect roommate. Her name is Elizabeth and she wasn’t in pain (no moaning or groaning) and she didn’t watch TV (no game shows or soaps). All she did was read. Which was perfect for me. The 1st night the nurse, Nick, didn’t like my pulseOx count when I woke up so he put me on oxygen. Anyway, the 1st night I had rolled on my side because my butt hurt. Well, in the middle of the night I had to pee like crazy. The problem was, I had a cathiter so I shouldn’t have had that problem. And the fun part was it was the middle of the night and my nurse call button didn’t work. So I asked my roomie to call the nurse for me. It turns out there was a kink in the tube and once they unkinked me all was good.

Since they took my appendix I had to “pass gas” before they would let me have solid foods. Day 2, they had me up and in the bathroom and sitting in a chair. Which hurt like crazy. But it was easier to get up to go to the bathroom. Mom & Dad came to visit. Terri came to visit and Maribeth came to visit. I was pretty tired by the time they left.

The rest of the stay was pretty uneventful. Except for Saturday night. One of the patients did a runner. The one nurse kept saying “Who’s his nurse? Stop him. Call security.” They found him a couple of hours later on a different floor in a laundry room. Then they sent a guy from across the hall to the ER at about midnight. And then at 2 am they brought in another patient. It was a long night.

The food was actually ok. After they let me have some. The nurses were fantastic. Over all I’d give my stay an 9 out of 10.

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