Long Overdue Update

Hi Everyone,

I am sorry it has been so long since I last posted. I however have been in the hospital for 7 days. We went for my Neurosurgeon appointment to have the staples removed only have them tell my to go directly to the ER and that I would be admitted, since I had managed to get an infection (guess) I ginxed myself on the last post.

We went to the ER on Tuesday, and it took them several hours to have a bed ready for me. They immediately started drawing blood and doing cultures. Also during this time I had one of the worst headaches I have ever experienced in my life. On Wednesday morning, they came to get me at 7:00 AM to do a quick cat scan of my head to see if they could figure out what was causing the headache and then took me off to surgery. I didn't even have time to call Russell for him to get there. While I was in pre-op, it was the anethesiologist who put the pieces of the puzzle together and identified that my potassium was very low and that could be what was causing my headache, so with potassium therapy my headache started to go away. The Neurosurgeon did a I&D (Incision and Drainage) on my back. Thankfully the infection had not gotten too far in my incision, but unfortunately I had managed to get bacteria into my bloodstream. I now had a Neurosurgeion and an Infectious Disease doctor coordinating my care. On Wednesday after surgery a pic line was put in my left upper arm and I continued to get 2 different IV antibiotics and blood draws on a regular basis (but those went really well since I had the pic line).

On Monday, I was finally discharged, but that took over 4 hours as the nurse had others that were having significant issues so I kept getting pushed down on the list. I am so happy to be home even though we are continuing the IV Therapy here. Once a week I go to the Infusion Therapy office for the dressing to be changed on my pic line and pick up new supplies. I get 3 doses of my IV antibiotic a day ( 7 AM/3 PM/11 PM). I have to continue this therapy for 6 weeks.

Please say a quick prayer that that IV therapy continues to work, as I don't really want to go back to the hospital anytime soon!!!

Russell and the kids are doing great considering all the extra drama I have provided. Russell has been so wonderful through all this and encouraging as my progress previously made, went out the window. They (me included) are just happy that I am back home. I really missed being with my family for those 7 days and being 45 minutes away.

Hope you are all doing well and surviving the weather.

Tina