The past week hasn’t been much fun. I obviously decided against the hyperbaric
chamber. Just no way in hell I’m getting in there. On the 28th, I saw Dr. Hafiz. He
had planned on ending the antibiotics and pulling the PICC line that day, but
instead he extended my treatment until February 16th. I see him
again on February 10th – my birthday. Not the best birthday
obviously, and definitely not near as good last year when I was in NOLA.
On the 29th, I had to go over to the hospital to
have my PICC line flushed as I wasn’t getting any blood return from it. When I
got there, the nurse saw how far out the line was and ordered xrays to make
sure it was still in the correct location. We had to wait for the PICC nurse to
come in and ok the treatment. The original nurse thought I was going to have to
have a new line put in, but thankfully I didn’t. However, because I was there
for 3 hours, and still had to go home and do my 3 hour antibiotic, I had to
cancel my appointment with Dr. Bushnick.
That night mom also ended up in the emergency room because
her primary doctor wanted her hospitalized.
We were surprised the next morning to hear they had let her out in the
middle of the night. My brother brought her home.
I went over to see her Saturday afternoon because her nurse
and caregivers thought she should go back to the hospital. I spoke with her,
and honestly, dad and I were both scared we were going to lose her at any
minute. She was so weak, her blood pressure sky high. I had the caregiver call
the ambulance and when dad’s evening caregiver arrived, Mike and I headed to
the hospital as well. They did end up keeping her this time and it was a good
thing. We found out on Sunday she has a large blood clot in her heart. They are
able to keep her blood pressure down now, but there are a few other issues
going on and she is definitely still not out of the woods. She seemed to be
doing better, but I called her early this evening and she was confused and very
hard to understand.
On Monday I saw my nurse and when I asked her if she knew
anything about how much longer I would have to be on the blood thinners, she
said they treat for a year….that wasn’t what I was told in the hospital at all –
they told me 3 months so I really hope she is wrong as I’m coming up on the 3
months and can’t imagine having to go in to the docs office every week for the
next 9 months. I had planned on seeing
my acupuncturist today and tomorrow for electromagnetic therapy, but due to the
issues with mom, I cancelled all non-essential appointments. Thursday I do see
Dr. Bushnick again and have a few things to talk with him about including
seeing if he can refer me for a prosthesis so I can at least try to look semi
normal.
Saturday is our annual Mardi Gras party, doing another
murder mystery this year and we have quite a few people coming out for it.
Really looking forward to it. I had hoped I would be off the antibiotics and
have the PICC line out, but no such luck. With everything that has been going
on, I am highly looking forward to spending a fun evening with family and
friends.
