More on the sore saga

A quick update: I went to see Dr. Holland 8/4 and he said my labs look good and I should keep taking it for 4 more weeks. (That makes 8 weeks). I asked about an MRI and he said that it wouldn't show any changes because of the bone's condition. It would take a while for the bone to recover. My sister Margaret and Ed came with me. The doctor said he wanted to see the wound so we were prepared w/supplies to reconnect the wound vac. However, the office only has about 32" high exam tables and the extra personnel in the office had all left for lunch! What is wrong with this picture? So I leaned over so he could look at the outside of the wound. It is looking pretty good. the depth has gone from 7 cm to 6, to 5.5 in just a few weeks so that is good.

On Sat I noticed an announcement in the newspaper that Cuesta Medical Group in SLO had just hired a new Doc who is a wound care specialist as well as hyperbaric! So I am going to see him today (Fri). Dr. Holland said it would be a good idea. A local pharmaacy has been trying to set it up to have hyperbaric treatment here so this may be connected. I will ask him today.

What irks me is that My own doctor didn't notify me of the new doc and she is in Cuesta Medical group in Los Osos! What is wrong with this picture?!!? Anyway things are looking up!

Baby Bing Arrived 9/12/2011

Dear Family & Friends!!! Just a little FYI Susan December 9th 6:45 am, Geoffrey Bing Bodemer decided it was time to show up! He weighed 5# 8.5 oz, 18 1/2". He is 35 weeks and is breathing on his own. They plan to keep him in the Natal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) for 5 weeks I think, but I don't know if they will really need to. Brett was also a "premie". Maggie had been feeling a bit off for a few days and then on Wed reported to the nurse that something was weird so the nurse said to come in. When she did the nurse said your water broke" you better go to the hospital! She had to get Jessie, Brett's co-worker to proctor her exam tonight! The tube coming out of the baby's mouth is to allow the gas build up in his tummy to come out (or is being pulled out). His color is good, with a bit of bruising from coming out and where they took blood from his heel! Maggie says she thinks he looks like Brett's brother Eric & nephew Nick and the grandfather Charles (now deceased). Anyway he is so cute and she is really cute with him. After we left she & Brett were going to go back up to the NICU to spend more time and bond with him. ***************** Susan Chandler proud grandmother of Max & Emily Barnhill & new Geoffrey Bing Bodemer born 12/9/2010!!! 805 528-4695 cell 805 215 3325 1193 17th St Los Osos, CA 93402-1425

The Sore Saga continues

We drove to Bakersfield on May 14 so Dr Dev could view the "hole", he said to come back in a month and he "might" do a flap and for me to check out the local SLO nursing homes because I would not be able to get up for 3 weeks! As is is now on the wound vac, it creates a negative pressure and I can be up for a while! I took me about 4 weeks to feel good enough to do much tho because of the Leavoquin I had to take for the Staph bugs that were present. Apparently the osteomyletis was scraped out of the bone because I did not have to have vincamycin the IV antibiotic I had to have in 2000 and 2005 that didn't do the job!

Anyway, the June 11 appt got postponed until the 25th! I am pushing protein to get it to heal, it looks really good and the wound vac is workinng continuously at sucking away the secretions and pulling O2 into the area to promote healing as well.
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Ed has been wonderful at feeding me and helping me a lot. Sometimes the tape over the wound has pulled away and the alarm on the vac goes off so we just add another layer of tape, but it is hard for me to do as my reach is not quite good enough to reach the far points. The other day at noon the nurse changed the dressing and hooked it all up and the vac would not turn on!!! So I called the 800# and the rep was in OXnard on his way to Carpenteria and would not be able to get to me until about 6 pm! I called the home care agency but they didn't have a spare. According to Sal, he shipped one to them the day before! Some good it did for me. So I kept the bandaid on and laid on my side. So far it seems to be working OK.

Wish me luck!

Susan Gets Surgery

My surgery was on March 29th! only 10 months later than it could have been! I was supposed to see Doc Dev last June about my pressue sore but I rashly decided I didn't wasn to go to Bakersfield! and would heal it by staying off it! WRONG (See earlier posts) we went to *Bakersfield Memorial Hospital (2.5 - 3 hours drive). Dr Dev, a plastic surgeon debreeded the wound which was scar tissue about quarter size and 3 cm deep. He cut it open to 5.2 cm deep, 7.2 cm long and about 3 cm wide at the widest. It looks like the grand canyon! He scraped away the bone infection (osteomyelitis) he says he got all that infection. Then he put a wound vac on it. They let me stay all night (this was done on an *"out patient" basis! On Fri about 10:30 we finally got out of there and I felt well enough to drive home--I didn't want to transfer twice into the passenger seat and possibly dislodge the suction cup on my butt! We had to go back Monday for a 10 am post op appt. The Doc was pleased, he said that he thought that he gotten all the osteo and he had sent the tissue sccrapings for culture to verify. But they found a staph aureus infection so I started taking CIPRO for, but it was soon evident to me that it was not very effective (this one has not helped me before). So after talking w/the Dr. Office he said I could just go right to the Levaquin he had prescribed to follow the Cipro for for 14 days**. So I was sweating and chilling a bit until the better antibiotic kicked in, it is better tonight. The wound vac is working very well, we have figured out how to place the sucky part further up my thigh away from the base of the hole where it usually dies first because of moisture pooling or such. The vac gets changed M, W, F. We have some good nurses here that know what to do. So I don't have to go back to Bakersfield until May 14th!!! Yea! The other good news is that I am not confined to bed. Dr Dev said it could be up as I can tolerate it. the wound vac sucks at the wound so it is not putting any pressure on the wound, it is causing a negative pressure! It pulls oxygen to the area from the body to the site which helps heal it and then the blood & juices are pulled out to a little resivior that fits right under the chair and has a battery of course. When I get rid of the infection I think I will feel better and do more. PLUS, the 7 sisters quilt show is at the end of the month. I am feeling better every day. *Managaed health care for you: --My local Dr. said that there was NO ONE HERE WHO COULD FIGURE OUT WHY I KEPT HAVING PROBLEMS AND WHO COULD READ THE MRI --I had to go to Bakersfield to find someone w/advanced wound care experience (I had one last Aug and no one knew what to look for--DEV knew what to look for).--plus what if you can't get there? --Out Patient Surgery--I can see that this is probably ok for lots of things, but when the patient has paraplegia and has to travel a long distance Fortunately Dr. Dev had the ability to order my overnight stay. -The RX--The Ins Co only authorized 10 days!!! ---the pharmacist said they want to get more co-pays from you!

My husband

I must say that my husband Ed has been very supportive and drove with me to Bakersfield. He serves me breakfst in bed which is very nice. He helps with cooking dinners, etc and of course he is a loving companion.

Osteomyelitis--the bone infection that keeps on giving

I have been reading about Osteo in the bone. Looks like it might have come about after an injury to the right ischial when I was being transferred to an airline seat and they missed it and I hit the hard arm. A friend remembers seeing it happen. Anyway, if there is some sort of infection in the blood stream, which could have been as paras sometimes have UTIs swirling around then it might settle into the injured bone and fester! The first two times I was pretty sick with the infection and had IV antibiotics. These last few years there has been some sickness but not like the first two times. The MRI I had in August, no one was competent to read and were unable to tell me that they could see an infection in the bone. The Radiolgist said that the tissue looked very healthy. But I didn't knnow to ask about the bone? Who knew? So this is why I kept having problems with pressure sores. AARGHHHHHHHH IN SLO thre are lots of aging people and as people age they develop disAbilities. As far as I can tell some of the health care doctors are unwilling to know what is going on or to learn about what it takes to help someone solve unusual problems. What is aging but unusual problems?

The sore comes back

So much for no surgery-- The sore opened up again after a trip to to Sacramento in Oct for CDR and then in Nov to the San Jose EXPO 9where we staffed the CDR booth) and then went on to Sac for Turkey day w/my sister. This time tho the sore was 3cm deep and was just scar tissue and it wasn't changing! The nurses came and didn't know what to do. Finally I decided that I would contact Dr. Dev, the Plastic surgeon in Bakersfield-- 137 miles away a 2.5 hours drive directly east. He said to get an MRI and then he told me yesterday that there was still osteomyelitis (bone infection) present in the bone. This after 2 IV treatments, one in 2000 and the other in 2005. No one bothered to check whether the infection had been eliminated after the IV antibiotic treatments had helped clear up the infection. Turns out he will have to SCRAPE the bone--meaning he has to cut into me to get to it...AARGH . The surgery wlll be next Tuesady--out patient. He has ordered a wound vac which will suck on it and presumably help it heal faster. I had one last summer for about 6 weeks and that helped close up the wound. I may be able to be up some but don't know the extend and I don't think I can go to the LA EXPO.