We may have caught a break

Well although this week has been pretty miserable and humid and hot... I think this morning we may have actually hit a breakthrough.

I went in to see my surgeon and the lab results came back from when he took out the drains last week, and it actually gave us the names of three bacteria that are in my leg causing this problem. So I have been on one broad-spectrum IV antibiotic and one oral antibiotic. Well the oral one is one I need to take care of this and now we are going to have to get the IV antibiotic switched. So I go to see the infectious disease doctor tomorrow.

I really hope this helps to give us the turning point so that the infection can actually be out of my body. I have been on antibiotics for just under two months with no luck and them fully fixing the problem.

This week has been so bad. I have been exhausted, I have had 3 night where I literally did not sleep at all. When you are trying to fight off an infection and your body has been at it for so long, sleep is truly something you need a lot of. My pain level has also spiked quite a bit the past few days. I feel like I am being stabbed over and over again.

So once the infection is gone and the swelling in my leg goes down, I can begin the next steps in the recovery process. Which means: PT, regular medicine schedule, going out and having a little more fun, trying to lift my spirits and hopefully sleep better and more.

So although I was hoping to be home today, I will take knowing that we finally have lab results in that are going to get us results. It may take a few weeks, but it will happen.

One thing I can say and I already knew this but I had never really experienced this myself. Is that infections are mean, ugly monsters that really try and ruin everything inside of you. They may stay in one spot, but they as a succubus for lack of a better term.  So for now I am not going to start jumping around in celebration just yet, because I know it will take time for the meds to work and for me to start seeing a difference.

I am ready for this to start turning around.

A long over due update

I just realized that I had not blogged about how things have been going since the surgery, that really speaks to my state of mind lately as I barely remember what day it is.

First off, I must say that I have absolutely wonderful and amazing friends, I really do not know what I would do without them. Going through this whole process alone is hard and to my friend Angela and her family who opened up their home to me and took me to appointments for close to two weeks, I really can't give enough thanks. Those first two weeks were so difficult, especially after I came down with the infection. Truthfully at that point all I wanted to do is cry. I am always in pain, but that truly took things over the top.

To my friend Terra who has been with me since and essential been my chauffeur to many appointments and making sure I have what I need while at home has been a huge help these past few weeks as well. I don't know what I am going to do when I am back on my own. Hopefully by then I have the strength and I am able to do things on my own. 

The surgery so far from what we can tell was successful. The doctor found a lot of scar tissue in the area and also one of my nerves that had separated into two nerves. They were able to properly decompress the nerves and now it is just an action of how the healing goes. 

Unfortunately a few days after the surgery I noticed a red area, that at first I thought I had just left the ice on a little too long. The next day I knew that was not the case as my entire leg was red. The next thing I knew my leg was so swollen I could not put my underwear on, which completely freaked me out. (nothing about surgery is glamorous that is for sure).

I spent about a week and a half down in the DC area, before I returned home. Since then I have had even more appointments between my specialist and my surgeon. The stitches are now out, however the wound is not healed so I am working daily to steri-strip it myself and make sure nothing happens to it. Thank goodness for my first aid training and slight background in athletic training. 

Frustration is a big word too. Everything gets to me because I can't do it. I can't pick things up off the ground if I drop something. I can't drive, I can't go up and down stairs unless someone is here to watch me. The one time that I did it alone, I fell.

So the healing process has been hard, the next step right now is physical therapy. I will start that on Thursday and hopefully that begins to help.

I must say our bodies are amazing, because these three little nerves are causing me such agony and making everything so much harder to do. I will get through it, but it is not easy. That of course I already knew being that I have been dealing with this since August 2011. 

Right now trying to find the positive in things is very hard, but I am really working on it. I try each day to look  in a positive light even though it feels so hard.