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ProfessorTomoe

Changing Medications (Level of Trust Required)

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I can't even image pain so bad that it wakes me up, other than migraines, which have been rare over the last 6 months or so.  I do hope you get some relief. 

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2 hours ago, mlooney said:

I can't even image pain so bad that it wakes me up

Forget waking me up. This won't even let me get to sleep, unless I pass out from exhaustion.

I got a minor relief from the pain management doctor. He bumped up my oxycodone from 4 a day to 6 a day. I don't think that's going to cut it. I went ahead and reported the pain to my spine surgeon as well, just in case there's anything he can do (I doubt it).

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My surgery on my left big toe to remove the 2" screw that was implanted to straighten out my hammertoe condition is now scheduled for next Thursday (April 21st). I had my pre-op appointment with the podiatrist today. Reminded him that I have a MRSA colony in my nose, as discovered by testing prior to my neck surgery. He acknowledged it and said he would treat the surgical wound with Vancomycin to prevent the MRSA from spreading to it (I know, how's it going to get from my nose to my big toe? Trust me, there's a chance).

The podiatrist says this should be the easiest surgery he's done on me, and should have the easiest recovery period. I'll believe that when I see it. In any case, he'll be doing it at the end of a leg that's suffering from severe edema. The edema (swelling, for those who have forgot) is bad enough that it's put 10 pounds on me! Seriously. I kid you not. Ten pounds of just water weight - that's what it comes down to. I'm not looking forward to pissing that 10 pounds back out of me.

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Oh, joy. I get to go to the emergency room today.

The swelling in my left leg has been getting steadily worse over the past few days. Well, today, it's really bad. It's crept up above my knee. My whole leg feels stiff.

I've got what they call an "Unna Boot" on my lower leg to act as a compression bandage in an attempt to decrease swelling. I don't think it's working. I'm taking 80mg of a diuretic called torsemide every day in an attempt to reduce swelling. I don't think it's working anymore. I've got a pressure sore where my leg meets my buttocks muscle. It's now bleeding, I think due to the swelling (which I'm guessing is backing everything up in my leg). The whole leg is one big joojooflop situation.

So, I get to do what few people have the luxury of doing: I get to plan a trip to the emergency room. This comes after I called my regular doctor for an appointment. The receptionist told me he had no appointments available, but she went back and discussed my situation with his nurses. They recommended I seek help at the emergency room. Therefore, I'm in the process of planning out a trip. Mrs. Prof is having her morning cup of coffee (I've just finished mine), and I need to take my morning flotilla of pills. We can get ready to go after both events are finished.

This is going to put a real kink into my music commission writing schedule. Don't yet know how it's going to affect planning for my toe surgery.

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I suspect, but don't know, that the ER staff is going to work on your leg for a while, then the doctor is going to admit you.  If you have a choice, go to the ER in the same hospital that you have set up to do your toe surgery at.

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The trip to the emergency room turned into a weekend stay in the hospital. The doctor was quite concerned by the amount of swelling I had, as well as by the amount of weight I'd gained over just the past week (14 pounds). They also treated me for a painful shoulder which got more painful during the stay (more in a moment).

They admitted me straight out of the ER and started giving me IV Lasix (a diuretic). They repeated this several times over the weekend. The result of this is that I nearly pissed myself silly. From Friday afternoon through Sunday morning, I lost a total of 13 pounds. That's over one and a half gallons of water weight from my swollen legs.

They also took several blood samples out of my right arm, from basically the same spot. I believe this is what led to the next problem that cropped up: phlebitis (inflamed/sore blood vessel). It felt like a lump of oatmeal in my elbow, and hurt like all hell. I've still got problems with it.

The doctors ordered ultrasounds of my legs and my arm, and an echocardiogram of my heart. They found no DVTs, nor did they find any possible cause for any of the swelling or the phlebitis.

I was discharged Sunday evening and told to follow up with a vein specialist. We'll see how that goes.

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9 hours ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

The trip to the emergency room turned into a weekend stay in the hospital.

I suspected that would be the case.  Hope things go well with the vein specialist.

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Saw my knee surgeon yesterday about the looseness in my artificial left knee joint. He gave me a knee brace - one with a metal joint - and recommended I try it out for two weeks. If it doesn't help, he recommends surgery to implant a plastic shim to tighten up the interface between the metal and the plastic in the artificial joint.

Only problem with the brace is I can't get it to stay on. I've got a leg shaped like a carrot, so the brace keeps sliding off no matter how tightly I tighten the straps. I've called and left a message with the doctor's nurse assistants, asking if I'm going to be charged for the thing. If I am, I need to return it so I *don't* get charged. It's bloody useless. 

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Update on the legs: I reweighed on Monday and learned that my water weight loss was by that time up to 17 pounds. I did the math, and that comes up to 2 gallons of water extracted from my legs (and elsewhere) from Friday the 15th through Monday the 18th. Very scary.

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8 hours ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

Update on the legs: I reweighed on Monday and learned that my water weight loss was by that time up to 17 pounds. I did the math, and that comes up to 2 gallons of water extracted from my legs (and elsewhere) from Friday the 15th through Monday the 18th. Very scary.

That's still a lot of water weight.  At least one thing they gave you is working.

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3 hours ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

I wasn't pissing that often.

An extra two gallons over four days would be just about twice the normal urine production for the average man.

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2 hours ago, ijuin said:

An extra two gallons over four days would be just about twice the normal urine production for the average man.

I'm sure I actually pissed more than two gallons. It had to come from somewhere, probably from fluid intake, but I'm almost certain it was more than 2 gallons.

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11 minutes ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

I'm sure I actually pissed more than two gallons. It had to come from somewhere, probably from fluid intake, but I'm almost certain it was more than 2 gallons.

I meant two gallons extra above and beyond the normal amount that you would have without the diuretic. I would reckon your total output over the four days to be more like five gallons.

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Yeah, if you based the two gallon on your water weight loss, you pissed more than two gallons.  Still sounds like a _lot_ of piss.

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I just had a brief stay at the hospital. Again. This time for planned surgery, fortunately, to remove the aforementioned screw from my left foot's big toe. Surgery went well, but recovery was a bear: my right arm pain started acting up again. It got so bad that the post-op nurse called for an IV injection of Dilaudid, one milligram, to kill the pain. It didn't quite kill the pain, but it did knock it down from an 8 1/2 to a 7 1/2 rather quickly. Anyway, I'm home and recovering well now. My arm pain is subsiding, now that I've got my regular oxycodone back into me and on schedule. The only thing that I've missed is my daily diuretic, since I got home and pretty much crashed immediately (didn't sleep well prior to surgery - caught up on it afterward). I'm hoping that doesn't affect my legs.

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7 hours ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

Hope harder, please. I've gained 10 pounds already, with no end in sight. My arm is hurting like all hell, too.

Damn.  When are you seeing a doctor about it?  And why isn't your diuretic working any more?

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1 hour ago, mlooney said:

Damn.  When are you seeing a doctor about it?  And why isn't your diuretic working any more?

I'm seeing my cardiologist today. And I don't know why the diuretic isn't making me lose weight. It's certainly making me piss.

My weight gain is up to 13 pounds now. Still monitoring things.

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