Home Again!
Home now and scared to death. The Visiting Nurse Assn. dropped off a walker and commode for me. I guess I really have to learn how to use it on my own. No weight-bearing on the left foot. But … I had to at least a little. I can’t leave these big, heavy boots on 24 hours a day. I can’t get them on by myself without a lot of struggle and pain.
Knowing that I had only $6 for groceries for the month, a friend called around the city to find out where I could get groceries delivered and she would pay for them. Some accomplishment since she lived on the coast! But she did it. I learned one thing, however. Whole Foods are good … and expensive! They charged $10 for shopping and a $14 delivery charge. That’s $24 out of $100 that didn’t go for food. And they ARE expensive in their prices. God bless you, sweetie!
It’s lonely here. The days are extremely long. I have trouble moving around and am bouncing off the walls and cupboards in my chair! Now that there is snow on the ground, I am being held “prisoner” in my own home. I can’t just take off and go somewhere because people don’t clear off access to bus stops and access to the street even though it is required by law to happen within 24 hours of a storm. But there’s no bite to the law. So, I guess I’m stuck!
One visit to the wound clinic after discharge and I’m back on track with the dermagrafts. But one visiting nurse is a real idiot and pulls off the dressings BEFORE the dermagraft is supposed to be exposed! Well, that was a Sunday and the DR didn’t seem to concerned with it as it was close enough to change date anyway.
On the 15th I had another DR appt. at the Wound Clinic. (When I was in the hospital for the last time, they said that if the infection reached the bone, I could possibly lose some toes and the 5th metatarsal along the way. Fortunately, I avoided that and just had a surgical debridement. Later, I had a surgical graft which failed but for 10%! I have been going through dermagrafts for the last month.) The Nurse Practitioner started digging BONE (!) out of my left foot. The DR was then called and he came in with a bigger tool than the curette and started digging out bigger pieces of the bone!! It seems that the Charcot foot has caused the collapse of my foot structure and a bone fracture.
Now that the bone has an infection, I am afraid that I AM going to lose my toe(s) and part of the foot or more! I was told that I have a “rare staph infection” in the bone samples sent to the lab. I am wit’s end because I keep getting badgered about not being alone; that I need to be in a rehab center or in assisted living and off my feet. What I don’t want to do is file for Title XIX and have to give up belongings to live in a closet of a room with a stranger and be abused by the aides!!! What if I get all better later and don’t qualify for Title XIX anymore? I would have given up everything, including my good health insurance with the State retirees plan.
My temp is slightly elevated. 97.4 is normal for me and it is 98.8 tonight. The wound care visiting nurses are watching over me.
Today, 12/22, I have another Wound Clinic appointment. Last week they stuffed the wound they made digging out bone with an antibiotic called gentamycin. I hope that this will work on that staph infection and it goes no further. I have been more obedient about staying in my boots. Of course, I spend many, many nights sleeping on my recliner and not my bed.
Christmas is coming up in a couple of days. I hope to spend it with my “adopted family” but may not because I can’t walk very far. I think we have a way out of that, but it depends on how they feel about accommodating me. I will let you know how this has all worked out in another blog after Christmas.
God bless you all for your support and caring.