"Sometimes, the hardest thing and the right thing are the same." ~The Fray
I love that quote, even though I wish it didn't refer to me. So much has happened recently - I had to make the difficult decision to go back and see the evil consultant mentioned in my last post. I had to see him privately, because time was running out and he was offering things that would help. The appointment was scheduled for Friday, but many phonecalls to and from my current surgeons' offices showed me that I really didn't trust this man, even if he could help. It played on my mind that he was adamant to be the only one involved, and I was scared that things would go wrong and he would refuse input from anyone else and would disallow me to see my old surgeons for advice. I just wouldn't want to feel obliged to him just because he's treating me.
Come Thursday, and I found a new consultant. I phoned up my orthopaedic surgeon's office, and told her about this new surgeon, and she replied by telling me that my vascular surgeon's secretary had recommended the very same person! I called my vascular surgeon's secretary, who informed me that her relative had seen the same person I'd found, and that he was lovely. She called up the new surgeon's office, and I got an appointment to see him yesterday (Friday) before his clinic started.
Turns out that he was born and had grown up in my area, and his sister had attended the same school as me. Again, he said he would treat me like a colleague, which I was so relieved about. No more of this chauvinistic, self-important approach, like the other surgeon had adopted. The bone erosion has progressed so much in the last few weeks, and the X-rays are redundant now because of how much more damage there is. I'm going to be admitted to hospital next week, and will be having surgery to debride the infectious bone and soft tissue. I think I'll be getting an implant or fixator of some sort to hold the bones together.
I can't believe how fast everything's moved on, and I don't think I'm ready for this. I know, full well, that this could make everything a lot worse. But if I do nothing, it'll get worse by itself - the surgery would, and could just hasten the process. Factor in my clotting disorders (just realised the pun there...) and my Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and the fact that I'm getting so unhealthy from taking so many antibiotics, and I'm just not sure how I'll get through this.
Sharing the ups and downs of life as a twenty-something year old medic. I have Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, postural tachycardia, persistent hypotension, a platelet function defect, gastroparesis and intestinal dysmotility, and am overcoming AVM and osteomyelitis. I am also TPN-dependent. Follow the rest of my journey at www.nogutfeelings.blogspot.co.uk
Showing posts with label Hand Surgery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hand Surgery. Show all posts
Saturday, 18 May 2013
Friday, 8 March 2013
30 days later...
Hello!
As I write this, I'm in a hospital bed hoping that today is the day I can finally go home once and for all. As you probably know, I had my operation on Wednesday, 6th February - and I was subsequently discharged one week after the initial surgery.
I did, however, need to return to the hospital due to bleeding problems and various other problems with the graft and donor sites. I sneakily returned to university (since we were doing dissection!) on Thursday, 14th February. I was still going to hospital for a number of reasons, including having my stitches removed under anaesthetic.
On Tuesday, 19th February, I had an ad-hoc emergency appointment with my surgeon as I had realised that the graft wasn't doing well. We took swabs of the area, and on the 22nd, the results were back. I had a "mixed infection" with a few different organisms that needed treating with intravenous antibiotics. I now realise that the reason for the infection was the fact that the person removing the stitches walked in, without washing their hands nor donning gloves, and started removing them.
So, I was readmitted to the same hospital, to the room opposite the one I previously stayed in. I have spent countless days here, around three weeks. I'm missing lots of lectures and practicals, and just can't wait to get home and back to everything I used to do. For me, it's been particularly tough, because I really am balancing two full on commitments and obligations.
I had a central venous catheter placed into my internal jugular for the IV therapy. This was done by the anaesthetist who did my anaesthetic a couple of years ago, and acknowledging my medical student status, he explained and showed me what he was doing from a clinical perspective.
Four times a day, for about two hours at a time, I received various antibiotics through the line. I finally finished all the antibiotics yesterday and have been put on oral drugs, though my stomach has taken, and is still taking assault from all the medications and it's a difficult task to keep them down.
I still have the infection, but hopefully the oral combination will work out... I'm not holding out a great deal of hope since my stomach has been so distressed, but right now I just need to go back to studying!
I'll post again when I'm home - or when I'm still here and have things to say, though I hope that won't be the case!
As I write this, I'm in a hospital bed hoping that today is the day I can finally go home once and for all. As you probably know, I had my operation on Wednesday, 6th February - and I was subsequently discharged one week after the initial surgery.
I did, however, need to return to the hospital due to bleeding problems and various other problems with the graft and donor sites. I sneakily returned to university (since we were doing dissection!) on Thursday, 14th February. I was still going to hospital for a number of reasons, including having my stitches removed under anaesthetic.
On Tuesday, 19th February, I had an ad-hoc emergency appointment with my surgeon as I had realised that the graft wasn't doing well. We took swabs of the area, and on the 22nd, the results were back. I had a "mixed infection" with a few different organisms that needed treating with intravenous antibiotics. I now realise that the reason for the infection was the fact that the person removing the stitches walked in, without washing their hands nor donning gloves, and started removing them.
So, I was readmitted to the same hospital, to the room opposite the one I previously stayed in. I have spent countless days here, around three weeks. I'm missing lots of lectures and practicals, and just can't wait to get home and back to everything I used to do. For me, it's been particularly tough, because I really am balancing two full on commitments and obligations.
I had a central venous catheter placed into my internal jugular for the IV therapy. This was done by the anaesthetist who did my anaesthetic a couple of years ago, and acknowledging my medical student status, he explained and showed me what he was doing from a clinical perspective.
Four times a day, for about two hours at a time, I received various antibiotics through the line. I finally finished all the antibiotics yesterday and have been put on oral drugs, though my stomach has taken, and is still taking assault from all the medications and it's a difficult task to keep them down.
I still have the infection, but hopefully the oral combination will work out... I'm not holding out a great deal of hope since my stomach has been so distressed, but right now I just need to go back to studying!
I'll post again when I'm home - or when I'm still here and have things to say, though I hope that won't be the case!
Tuesday, 5 February 2013
One day to go...
I know I haven't written an update in quite some time, but this time tomorrow I'll probably be going down to theatre for my surgery. This will be the last try to obtain skin cover on the tumour defect wound, so that I can begin other sorts of treatments to heal the bone, nerves and the aesthetics (though this is relatively unimportant to me at the moment).
I'm nervous, but I trust that God will look after me, and show my surgeons the light. Pre-operatively, I will get my DDAVP infusion and intra-operatively, two units of blood will be transfused. I have been very anaemic for quite a long time, and I quote that even my haematologist said that I am " very iron deficient". I am due to see him again in a fortnight's time back at the OPD about my platelets and he has already liaised with my surgeon's haematology team (since I'm not having my operation at the same hospital where I see my haematologist).
My surgeon is going to send the anaesthetist up to the ward to set up the lines that I will need. My veins are rather poor and we aren't keen for a nurse to do the job. I've had cannulae in and blood taken from nurses six times this year already and each time has taken them several attempts to get into the veins. Hopefully it won't be too bad tomorrow, I don't know how many lines they will need though, as it seems that I'm having so many things via the IV route. It's probable that I'll just have one, and they'll put a splitter on it (at least this is what I'm hoping for...!).
***
Chinese New Year is on Sunday; I hope I'll be home in time to celebrate the day with my family, not in the hospital. It would be the second New Year running that I'll have spent in the hospital. Last year, I was in day surgery by myself as both my parents were working and it was a school day. This year will be the same, but I'll be admitted as an inpatient, but I have my best friends coming to visit me tomorrow evening. I hope I can be well enough to see them.
I don't have a lot more to say for the moment, apart from I wanted to thank all my friends who have supported me throughout these four years. I have grown so much, physically and emotionally and I wouldn't be the same person, had these events not taken place. I'll try to post another update at some stage, but for now - all I know is that I'm in good hands.
I'm nervous, but I trust that God will look after me, and show my surgeons the light. Pre-operatively, I will get my DDAVP infusion and intra-operatively, two units of blood will be transfused. I have been very anaemic for quite a long time, and I quote that even my haematologist said that I am " very iron deficient". I am due to see him again in a fortnight's time back at the OPD about my platelets and he has already liaised with my surgeon's haematology team (since I'm not having my operation at the same hospital where I see my haematologist).
My surgeon is going to send the anaesthetist up to the ward to set up the lines that I will need. My veins are rather poor and we aren't keen for a nurse to do the job. I've had cannulae in and blood taken from nurses six times this year already and each time has taken them several attempts to get into the veins. Hopefully it won't be too bad tomorrow, I don't know how many lines they will need though, as it seems that I'm having so many things via the IV route. It's probable that I'll just have one, and they'll put a splitter on it (at least this is what I'm hoping for...!).
***
Chinese New Year is on Sunday; I hope I'll be home in time to celebrate the day with my family, not in the hospital. It would be the second New Year running that I'll have spent in the hospital. Last year, I was in day surgery by myself as both my parents were working and it was a school day. This year will be the same, but I'll be admitted as an inpatient, but I have my best friends coming to visit me tomorrow evening. I hope I can be well enough to see them.
I don't have a lot more to say for the moment, apart from I wanted to thank all my friends who have supported me throughout these four years. I have grown so much, physically and emotionally and I wouldn't be the same person, had these events not taken place. I'll try to post another update at some stage, but for now - all I know is that I'm in good hands.
Wednesday, 29 August 2012
Post-op day #5
I can't believe it's already been five days since surgery! I attended my BMI hospital today to see my surgeon, with much apprehension about their awful nurses, knowing that I would need my dressings done because I am just post-op. I was given the *worst* nurse; I'm surprised I didn't scream when I saw her. As my surgeon says, she's "old school" and wants to get jobs done ASAP, regardless of anything. I bit my tongue and decided to let her have a go even though I knew it wasn't a good time, being post-op.
She took a foot-long pair of plaster scissors and tried to cut my dressing, hacking through the bandages roughly. I told her to stop, but she just told me to let her get on. She then started to remove the dressings themselves with tweezers. I tried to get my other hand in and remove them myself, but as I moved away from the dressings table, her tweezers followed suit and she was adamant that she wanted to remove them.
Just as we were waiting for my surgeon to come, another nurse came to get something from the room. Later, evil nurse left and I was left with the nurse who had come in to get something, as if by telepathy (or magic!)! I was in so much pain and was bleeding my this point and trying so hard to hold things together. My surgeon came in, and awkward conversation ensued (with me half-in-tears...). After 30 minutes of discussion, we decided to try new dressings and my surgeon left, telling me to go and see him again post-dressings.
Later, my surgeon asked if I was alright and commented that I looked really upset earlier on. Embarrassingly, I burst into tears and explained the situation - he agreed that it wasn't right and we ended up laughing about it.
He isn't too happy about the state of things, I am already growing back dodgy tissue and we might have to repeat/revise the surgery. He has also referred me to a plastic surgeon and I should get a call about that tomorrow - he wants to see if I am a candidate for synthetic skin or cell culture which is a very exciting prospect for now. I should get an appointment next week depending on when and where he runs his clinics and I am seeing my orthopaedic surgeon again on the 7th September.
For now, I have been prescribed some marcaine/bupivacaine HCl (I think they're the same thing) for pain relief as the codeine has been making me vomit badly. He wants me to start building up my appetite again as I have lost some weight over the last week or so, which was part of the reason why I was kept longer in hospital than I should have been. I ended up leaving the hospital at 9pm but I'm pleased to have seen my surgeon today. Hopefully it's good news from here.
She took a foot-long pair of plaster scissors and tried to cut my dressing, hacking through the bandages roughly. I told her to stop, but she just told me to let her get on. She then started to remove the dressings themselves with tweezers. I tried to get my other hand in and remove them myself, but as I moved away from the dressings table, her tweezers followed suit and she was adamant that she wanted to remove them.
Just as we were waiting for my surgeon to come, another nurse came to get something from the room. Later, evil nurse left and I was left with the nurse who had come in to get something, as if by telepathy (or magic!)! I was in so much pain and was bleeding my this point and trying so hard to hold things together. My surgeon came in, and awkward conversation ensued (with me half-in-tears...). After 30 minutes of discussion, we decided to try new dressings and my surgeon left, telling me to go and see him again post-dressings.
Later, my surgeon asked if I was alright and commented that I looked really upset earlier on. Embarrassingly, I burst into tears and explained the situation - he agreed that it wasn't right and we ended up laughing about it.
He isn't too happy about the state of things, I am already growing back dodgy tissue and we might have to repeat/revise the surgery. He has also referred me to a plastic surgeon and I should get a call about that tomorrow - he wants to see if I am a candidate for synthetic skin or cell culture which is a very exciting prospect for now. I should get an appointment next week depending on when and where he runs his clinics and I am seeing my orthopaedic surgeon again on the 7th September.
For now, I have been prescribed some marcaine/bupivacaine HCl (I think they're the same thing) for pain relief as the codeine has been making me vomit badly. He wants me to start building up my appetite again as I have lost some weight over the last week or so, which was part of the reason why I was kept longer in hospital than I should have been. I ended up leaving the hospital at 9pm but I'm pleased to have seen my surgeon today. Hopefully it's good news from here.
Friday, 24 August 2012
In hospital and not feeling good
Will write properly when I'm doing better, lots of love and hugs to all x
Tuesday, 14 August 2012
Day out
I've been bleeding every day this week, and have lost quite a fair bit of blood. More than ever before, I now feel like there's AVM left in my finger because the bleeding is always pulsatile. I would be worried about this if the only option was to maintain status quo, but this week, my surgeon should be consulting others from the plastics team to see if they can operate using a cross finger flap which was suggested in the past. If this is done, any AVM left will be removed. I'd forgotten to also ask him about performing a Z-plasty which has also been an option previously, but was never done. I will be sure to ask him about this on Friday when I next see him at the hospital. I am so nervous but excited also to find out whether I can have surgery, but the thought of declination of this chance kills all the hope I have. I'd rather be realistic than optimistic and I know that the chances of a "yes" are very, very slim indeed and I just want to be prepared for the disappointment rather than expect the excitement.
I went out with my best friend today - we went into Central London and did some shopping. I bought a couple of face cleansers and makeup removers, and a few bits and pieces for my makeup collection. It was a really, really nice day and I'm so pleased I could spend it with one of my favourite people. To top it off, I came home and another great, great friend of mine was online and so we chatted the evening away! I have so many best friends and am so lucky for this - people who I am close to not just through illness, but because we have similar personalities, regardless of state of health.
My new contact lenses are really wonderful too. This is my second trial and my second pair on this trial and finally, I think I've found lenses which really work for me. I am very short sighted and have bad astigmatism too - I think my prescription is around -8.00 on each eye but I'm so glad they finally found lenses that are made in my prescription! Despite all the bleeds lately, I have totally been on cloud nine! I think about my friends and family every day and remember how lucky I am to have them around me to share everything with me! I hope this week is a good one for everyone - sending lots and lots of love to you!
I went out with my best friend today - we went into Central London and did some shopping. I bought a couple of face cleansers and makeup removers, and a few bits and pieces for my makeup collection. It was a really, really nice day and I'm so pleased I could spend it with one of my favourite people. To top it off, I came home and another great, great friend of mine was online and so we chatted the evening away! I have so many best friends and am so lucky for this - people who I am close to not just through illness, but because we have similar personalities, regardless of state of health.
My new contact lenses are really wonderful too. This is my second trial and my second pair on this trial and finally, I think I've found lenses which really work for me. I am very short sighted and have bad astigmatism too - I think my prescription is around -8.00 on each eye but I'm so glad they finally found lenses that are made in my prescription! Despite all the bleeds lately, I have totally been on cloud nine! I think about my friends and family every day and remember how lucky I am to have them around me to share everything with me! I hope this week is a good one for everyone - sending lots and lots of love to you!
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