Eye can't take it!

On Sat morning at 2:45am I woke up with pain in my right eye.  My eye was red and watering a lot.  I thought I might have gotten a tiny hair in my eye, since I got my haircut the evening before, so I got up, removed my contacts, flushed my eye with water and went back to bed.  But within a few minutes my eye hurt so much I couldn't stand to keep my eye closed!  Still thinking I might have a tiny hair in my eye, I repeated the eye flushing and then took some pain reliever before getting back to bed.  But the eye pain became unbearable!  So I got myself dressed, put on my eye glasses, and took myself to the Emergency Room at 4:30am.  Spouse offered to go with me but I told him there was no reason for both of us to be awake at this hour.

Fortunately there was no one in the waiting room so I was able to check-in right away, and was seen by the nurse George within minutes.  George recorded my verbal explanation for my visit, took my vitals, and then put numbing drops in my eye.  Within 10 seconds the terrible pain was gone.

When the doctor came in a few minutes later I explained (again) my situation and he decided to flush my eye again.  His technique was much more thorough than mine as he held my eye open and squirted fluid into it for several seconds.  Then he used a special light and examined my eye.

He told me I had a small abrasion on my pupil.  There's no way of knowing how it occurred, or why it would suddenly wake me from my sleep with such pain, but I'm not ruling out a tiny piece of hair from my haircut getting into my eye.  The doctor gave me a prescription for steroid/antibiotic drops which I obtained before returning home.  He said my eye would likely heal within 2-3 days and told me not to wear my contacts for 5 days.  Here's a photo of me with my new haircut wearing my glasses.

The drops worked well and I've had no further pain. Tomorrow will be day 6 so I will put in fresh lenses and see how it goes.

What happened to Feb???

Indeed... what happened to Feb???  Well, Feb was a combination of pleasure and pain, both of which prevented me from posting here.

1st the pleasure:  our trip to Puerto Vallarta.  We had a fabulous time!  The weather was terrific and we had a lot of fun.  I'll post photos and details of the trip in another post.

Now pain:  an unexpected health issue.  Unbeknownst to me, prior to leaving on our trip I got cellulitis, a bacterial skin infection.  I thought I had a muscle strain and just took ibuprofen during the trip.  You know how it feels after you've pulled weeds or done some other kind of activity that uses muscles in a different way?  It was more of a "discomfort" rather than "pain".  

However, upon our return home it quickly became more painful so I made an appointment with my doctor.  He diagnosed the cellulitis and prescribed 2 antibiotics.  (I'd heard of cellulitis but really had no idea what it was.  I thought it had something to do with cellulite!)

The cellulitis unfortunately was on my left inner buttock, and due to the swelling and pain of putting any pressure on it, I was unable to sit or lay on my back.  So I laid on my right side while awake (mostly watching TV) and slept on my right and left sides.  

But instead of improving while on the antibiotics, the swelling and pain intensified.  My doctor's office was closed for the weekend so I called the answering service and left a message.  My doctor called back and I explained the situation.  He called in a pain medication to the pharmacy and said to come into the office 1st thing Mon morning.

However, in the wee hours of the morning on Mon I woke up in a puddle.  I was rather alarmed and woke Spouse up to help.  The cellulitis had abssessed and began draining.  Gross!!!  Spouse was a real trooper and cleaned me up, then stripped the bed, rolled up and threw away the mattress cover, then remade the bed.  He placed a couple of old bath towels on the bed where I was going to lie down again.

As directed, we showed up at the doctor's office.  Remember, since I could not sit I had to lay across the back seat on my side while Spouse drove me to and from the office.  We were escorted into the examining room and I removed my sweat pants and underwear so the doctor could have another look.  

"Ooohhh... this is not good.  The cellulitis has increased in size and has now abssessed.  There are a couple of openings.  This is beyond my abilities.  You need to be seen by a surgeon who can clean this out."

Needless to say, all this was quite alarming.  I've never been told by a doctor that my condition was beyond his abilities!  My doctor immediately called a local surgeon's office, explained the situation, and set an appointment for the next morning.  Spouse drove me to the surgeon's office and again I removed my sweat pants and underwear so the surgeon could examine me.  I guess I should have known it was bad when the surgeon called in another surgeon to consult.  There were a few minutes of talking between them in medical jargon, most of which I didn't understand.  Then I was told what was needed was too involved to be done in the office.  I would need to be admitted to the hospital and have surgery.

I was admitted, IV inserted in my arm, and prepped.  The surgery was a breeze since I was completely out.  I had to stay in the hospital 4 days while the "wound" (their terminology for the cellulitis area that was operated on) was packed (with gauze) and unpacked twice a day.  Despite being given morphine the packing/unpacking process was excruciating!  

I was released from the hospital with prescriptions for more antibiotics and hydrocodone for pain, and told to continue the packing/unpacking process at least until my follow-up surgical visit at the end of the month.  Obviously I could not do it myself due to the wound's location, so I was set up with a visiting nurse.  But then we found out the nurse would only come 3 times a week.  The wound had to be dressed at least 7 times a week!  Fortunately Spouse has lots of sick leave and vacation time.  He stayed home with me for 2 weeks after being released from the hospital to care for me.  

And I really needed the care too.  I was so weak and in so much pain!  In addition to the wound dressings, he shopped and cooked for me, helped me shower, use the bathroom, and dress me, and made sure I was taking the antibiotics and pain meds at the right times.  Since the nurse highly recommended a high protein diet to promote tissue healing, Spouse bought and prepared lots of high protein foods and helped ensure I'd consumed at least 90 grams of protein each day.

I finally began to get my strength and stamina back just in time for my surgical follow up visit on Mon.  The surgeon was pleased with the wound's progress, but said we needed to continue with the wound packing/unpacking for another 2 weeks.  Its March 1 and I'm hoping to return to work next Mon the 6th.  After being on vacation for 1 week, I've been home on medical leave for another 5 weeks, for a total of 6 weeks out of work.

Just this week I've finally begun to sit for a few minutes at a time on a memory foam pillow.  I tried one of those inflatable donuts but found it too difficult to balance.  I'm trying to build up to being able to sit a little more each day.  In the meantime I'm standing at the kitchen peninsula to use my laptop.

I'll keep you posted on my condition.

Home from the hospital

My friend Jason told me yesterday that he would be released from the hospital today.

He will be staying with our friend Thatcher for the rest of the week since he'll have a follow-up appointment with the doctor on Fri. Jason and Thatcher are good friends and Thatcher is a nurse so its logical that Jason would stay with him through Fri. However, Thatcher had an appointment around the time Jason was due to be released so we planned for me to pick him up from the hospital and take him to Thatcher's house.

Jason was still rather weak and sore from the surgery so he was moving slowly and carefully. Once I got him into the car I said "You're free!!!" He laughed and said he wanted to go somewhere and get something to eat. He had only been given solid food since yesterday (9 days with only IV nutrition) so we dropped off his perscriptions at the pharmacy and met Thatcher and another friend Charles for lunch. He didn't eat much, but said it was great to put something in his stomach.

After lunch I went over to Thatcher's house with them to be sure Jason got settled in, then I came home. Jason seemed really glad to be out of the hospital. Now he's looking forward to his follow-up doctor's appointment on Fri, after which he expects he'll be allowed to take a shower!

Hospital

My good friend Jason is in the hospital. He's been there since Sat night. They discovered he had a ruptured polyp on his bowel and is having surgery today.

I've been to visit him every day since Mon. The hospital is literally walking distance from our house and I haven't had much on my 'to do' list this week so its been easy for me to spend a few hours with him each day.

Its weird because I absolutely hate going to the hospital. I hate how hospitals smell like antiseptic, and I really don't like being around all those sick and injured people. Fortunately Jason has a private room so its not been that bad hanging out with my buddy Jason.

He'll probably be in the hospital another 5 days, then need several days of bed rest at home. I'll continue to visit and support my friend as long as he needs it.