Its been 3 days since my last post, I've been so busy and tired with everything since! I'm tired right now, but I feel like I need to update my blog and continue on.
I woke up Thursday morning, I had an emotional day, the day before when I found out about my infection and all of the possible outcomes. I woke up pretty positive then I get dressed to start my day of appointments and I was draining from my incision on the left side. I woke up my husband with my whine - 'OMG - seriously!!!!'. I calmed down a bit when I noticed the leakage wasn't bloody but it was yellow/orange and matched the color of my drains on the right side. So I reinforced my bandage with gauze and awaited my nurse sister to whine to her about it.
I had my sister pick me up for my appointments to get a CT scan and a picc line. She wasn't too concerned as she mentioned - better out than in and we figured my drain might have come out too early. So on to my first appointments...
I had a bit of a wait at the radiologists since I was squeezed in for that appointment. The picc line was put in first, the actual procedure was not bad at all, however the 30 minutes of waiting to get the picc line was pretty painful. I had my right arm, because the infection is on my left side, completely to the side of me at a 90 degree angle. I hadn't stretched like that since my surgery, it was tight and painful. Other than the long wait, that was the most painful part.
Next was my CT scan; I had never had one before and didn't know what to expect. My scan was 'with contrast' so I was injected with dye or some sort of liquid, I really don't know. Luckily the tech warned me of the effects of this! Once I was injected (in my handy picc line) I had a warm sensation in my chest all the way down and it felt like I had pee'd myself because my bottom half was warm too! Made me chuckle because I had to remind myself - I didn't pee ... I don't have to pee ... but hold it either way!
Next was my appointment with the nurse at the infectious disease doctor where I would receive my first infusion. I also notified the Dr. of my drainage so he could culture it and see exactly what my infection is. That was the one thing about the leaking. I also received a good re-wrapping of my gauze and bandages which always feels good; well, unless its too tight.
At this point of the day, I am kind of excited about my picc line - no more getting stuck with needles! (I'll post a picture in another post) and that I was almost done with my day of appointments. The nurse gave me directions on my antibiotics and how to give myself the IV since I would be doing the rest of the infusions at home .. by myself... yikes!
The first antibiotic is Vancomycin which would take an hour in the IV drip and afterward I would have Cefepime which would take 30 minutes. I will be doing this every 12 hours ... so 3 hours out of my day getting loaded up with antibiotics. Between the 2 the side effects (that shouldn't cause alarm) are itching, acid reflux, and fatigue. These meds would affect my GI tract so probiotics were recommended.
Finally, at 5pm I was finished with my appointments!!!! I was so tired and walked out of there with 2 large bags of a weeks worth of supplies.
When I got home, I noticed that my drainage on the left side was seeping out at a rapid speed. I ended up using maxi pads to help soak up all the liquid, which I had to change multiple times. I soon figured out that I needed to lay flat to slow it down. Luckily I had an appointment with my surgeon the next day. I was a bit nervous to find out what the next step was since all this drainage was coming out and really wasn't a good thing.
At the Drs office for my drainage the nurse ended up massaging all of the liquid out of my chest. Dr. O'neill explained to me that she stitched me up with 3 layers including some adhesive mesh to keep my incision closed. Since the liquid had to go somewhere it seeped out the incision, but there wasn't a hole in my incision and nothing could get in. Depending on how much I would need to be drained would determine the next course of action - massaging the liquid out again or putting new drains in, in the area that would catch the drainage, this time. Given the amount of liquid that was being drained in my drainage tubes, it was correct to remove the drains. It seems that the drains weren't in the area that they needed to go. The Dr. didn't do anything wrong, it isn't an exact science as to where you're going to drain. So to finish this up, I was drained and sterry*? stripped back together and I see the Dr. back on Monday. I'm thinking I am going to have to be massaged again, but we'll see!
I will have to finish this up tomorrow of today's activities.. I am exhausted!!!!
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