Changing Medications (Level of Trust Required)

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

Mrs. Prof has a stash of Cymbalta of her own. We will live on that until my prescription can be filled on the 13th.

[Darth Fluffy 302]

Hope things go well for you.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

According to my wife, my right foot has started swelling up on me. I can't see the swelling, but I can feel pain when I walk on it, in the area where the sesamoidectomy was performed. Something could be going wrong in there.

Shiat.

This could force me to postpone my shoulder surgery if it's infected. Damn it to hell and back.

I have an appointment with the podiatrist in a couple of hours. We shall see what's going on.

[Darth Fluffy 302]

That's all you needed. Glad you were able to get the foot appointment quickly.

[mlooney 3,417]

On 12/9/2023 at 0:06 PM, ProfessorTomoe said:

I have run out of Cymbalta (a.k.a. Duloxetine), and I am suffering from withdrawal symptoms. Electric shocks to the head, jitters, coldness, and others. I'm not enjoying this, especially since Mrs. Prof didn't tell me I was completely out (she does my pills every week).

Oh shit.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

Saw the podiatrist. My foot is badly swollen and warm to the touch. The swelling and warmth are moving up my leg. The doctor prescribed clindamycin and told me to come back Thursday. If it hasn't cleared, I'm going into the hospital for IV antibiotics.

The shoulder surgery has been postponed until further notice. Damn it all to hell.

[Darth Fluffy 302]

Tough break. Persevere, champ. You got to.

 

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

What makes things worse is that my surgery will probably be pushed off into 2024, when the deductible count resets. I'd met my catastrophic out of pocket deductible for 2023, so the surgery *was* going to be free. Not any more. Sigh.

[Darth Fluffy 302]

Good point, and ouch! Maybe you can still squeeze it in? Here's hoping . . .

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

I spent Tuesday night and Wednesday morning in the ER =, being treated for the infection in my right foot while alone in the room.  She brought my computer back up to me this evening. This is the first chance I've had to communicate to the outside world since..Sorry.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

Okay, that last communique was a bit incoherent. Sorry.

I've been in the hospital since Tuesday night with an infected foot, and now, an infected right leg. They've been giving me vancomycin for the infection, but it hasn't knocked out everything. An infectious disease specialist came in today and added Cefepime to my IV antibiotics. We'll see if anything else gets caught in its web. He also may order a nuclear bone scan to see if I've got osteomyelitis again. Wouldn't that be just lovely. So, I'm sitting here, trying to break out of a writer's block on a French Horn sextet for a competition, while drains get backed up at home. Such joy.

[Darth Fluffy 302]

Get better, We need your sassy comments.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

Life in a hospital is hell. With its daily Lovenox shots to the stomach, the horrible food, the uncomfortable sleeping arrangements, the unusable toilet seats blocked by a malplaced toilet paper dispenser, to the obligatory guy (or girl) shouting "HELP!" all through the night. It downright sucks. I keep forgetting how terrible this place can be.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

I'm in the queue for more surgery, Sunday morning. The podiatrist isn't happy with the pain I'm still having and thinks there may still be hidden abscesses, so he's going to go in and find out. He'll check out the bottom of my foot, and the inner side of my big toe. I'm hoping he cleans out whatever he finds.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

My surgery is scheduled for 7am Sunday morning. It's now just past 12:20 a.m., and I'm on NPO (nothing by mouth) until the surgery. I'm scheduled to take my pain pills at 5am, so there'll be a slight exception for that, I hope. Otherwise, some shouting will occur.

[Darth Fluffy 302]

Well, you know what they say, "A squeaky wheel is worth two in the bush." Or something like that. I'm pretty sure it involves wheels.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

Surgery went well, and the bone biopsy is still cooking in the lab. So far, nothing has grown. Meanwhile, the 1-2 punch of vancomycin and cefepime appears to be knocking back the infection in my leg and knocking out the infection in my foot. I've been advised that, if nothing grows off of the bone biopsy sample, I could be sent home as early as Thursday with just oral antibiotics. That would please Mrs. Prof to no end, since it would allow her to take me down to the Austin area for her family's Christmas get-together on Saturday. Only time will tell.

[Darth Fluffy 302]

Hoping it works out for you and Mrs. Prof.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

I have been told by my hospital doctor this morning that my bone biopsy has shown signs of growth in the medium. In short, I have osteomyelitis.

How this is going to affect my schedule is uncertain right now. They still don't know what kind of infection I have in my bone, but in any case it's going to require IV antibiotics. I might be able to go home with them, but it's doubtful. I'll find out more when I see the infectious diseases doctor later today.

No idea how this is going to affect family Christmas yet. Sigh.

[mlooney 3,417]

That suck.  Hope you manage to make Christmas with your family

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

I've finally met with the infectious disease doctor, and there has been a bit of a revision to the story. Here goes.

Once the bone biopsy sample decalcified, parts of it were sent to two different labs - pathology and microbiology. Pathology studied it under the microscope and determined that it had been subjected to acute osteomyelitis. Microbiology tried to grow cultures from it, but since I'd been on antibiotics for over 5 days already, nothing new grew, so they were unable to determine exactly what kind of organism was causing the osteomyelitis.

As a result, I'm going to have to remain on the two broad-spectrum IV antibiotics I'm already on...for 6 weeks. I'm not going home any time soon. I'll most likely be sent to another Skilled Nursing Center, LTAC, or something similar. I'm pretty sure of the place I'll go - I've been there twice before.

So much for family Christmas. Sigh.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

In the latest twist to the osteomyelitis saga, it looks like I might get to go home today after all. I've still got to get a PICC line inserted while I'm unconscious, have IV drugs delivered to my house, and figure out who's going to be doing what and going where over the next few days. I may be riding down to Austin with a tennis ball full of cefepime infusing into me en route. Stay tuned.

[Darth Fluffy 302]

On 12/20/2023 at 2:49 PM, ProfessorTomoe said:

I've finally met with the infectious disease doctor, . . .

If your doctor has an infectious disease, you should avoid meeting with them.

 

Glad you are getting a break and able to visit family for Christmas.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

Well, smeg. I'm stuck in the hospital for another night. Saw my podiatrist this evening and learned that my white blood cell count had jumped from 12 to 15 overnight. He's keeping me to see if it goes down in the morning. If it does, he'll let me go home. If not...well, we'll come to that if it happens.

I also learned that family Christmas has been temporarily postponed due to illness of several of the hosting family members. Looks like I'm not the only one sick, although I am the only one in the hospital. It'll be rescheduled soon.

[Darth Fluffy 302]

You don't want to be exposed if you are compromised.

We have a minor version of what you have going on. One of the disease vectors . . . excuse me, grand kids . . . is ill. We are gathering anyway. Honestly, though, if we dropped events because a kid was sick, we''d see each other in twenty years. (Of course, if THEY start having kids, we'll never see each other.)

Fleas on your dog, man. And a prosperous angle on your fleecy dad.