Friday, April 13, 2012
world of pain
wed evening had three screws put in my hip to hold fractured bone in place. screws in bone-- feels as bad as it sounds.
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
oops
MRI last thursday revealed a fractured hip. Maybe there was some gout inflammation as well, but extreme pain could have just been the fracture. At any rate, they wanted to put in a pin to stabilize the joint last friday, but instead I kept my travel plans and went to NYC against Drs orders. Now back in Abq I am going to see an orthopedist this morning. Meg says the pin insertion is a short operation that likely requires a hospital overnight. I will have it done at Presbyterian Hospital which has slightly better accommodations than UNM.
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Icarus
So Meg and I returned to Albuquerque March 7 with me on IV antibiotics, with plans to come back to Mayo at the end of March (monday, the 26th) for follow-up on my infection. Back in Albq. we were super busy with family and house (fridge under warranty broken again, for example) and Meg with finances and me with work. So a few weeks slipped by very quickly.
I had started my "spring training", doing daily 4 mile walks around the golf course which was refreshingly different from the Jacksonville beach walk, a few hills and some trees. Then I added a few short jog sections which reminded me of just how much more difficult running is than walking. I got a bit more ambitious and started a more determined "run-walk" on the two mile loop around campus. On the third day of trying the "run-walk" I had to stop the jogging due to some pain in my right leg. It will be two weeks ago come tomorrow (thursday) that this happened. The following day, friday, I was experiencing intense leg pain which I gradually came to realize was in my right hip. By that saturday I was barely hobbling across the living room at an almost imperceptible pace. I will never forget the look of disbelief David's face as he waited for me to let him in the front door: "Dad, you can't be serious!" But I was, the pain being near 10 on the 0-10 scale. I was able to get the volume down only a notch or two on oxycodone. Meg took me to the ER saturday afternoon, but there were no obvious broken bones. Early sunday morning I decided that the only thing that could cause that much pain and not be a broken bone was likely gout, so I started treating it as such. I dug deeply into a prednisone haze.
Monday the 26th it was back to Jacksonville via air-port wheelchair and then tests at Mayo. The infection was declared over. In the meantime, some good news-- the liver looked good on the blood-work and they were thinking about delaying the hep-C treatment. They wanted to do a liver biopsy to check, and an MRI to check the status of the clotted hepatic vein. To do the biopsy I needed to come off of the rat-poison and wait for my clotting to return to normal. These tests were scheduled for this week (yesterday, tuesday April 2 for the biopsy; today, wednesday for the MRI with a visit with the Attending scheduled for tomorrow).
In a little less pain but under a dense prednisone fog Meg and I returned to Abq this past weekend to be with Jeremy and David. I was a bit more independent on newly purchased crutches, and the pain less severe. Then just this past monday AM, back to Jacksonville with Meg who was needed as a caregiver following the biopsy. (Yes, one of her starring roles, personal physician!) Today, I had the MRI and Meg is traveling back to Abq for the passover cleaning and search for chametz.(Starring this time as the good Jewish mother. Have to remember to say the Shabbat prayer for such a wife!) I will fly directly to NYC on Friday when we all meet at the rental-car at La Guardia--Meg, Jeremy and David from Abq, and Amanda from Kenyon.
Whew.
The hip pain is resolving but still worrisome. An MRI of the hip is now scheduled for late tomorrow afternoon. My circumstance is reminiscent of Icarus who was punished for abusing his freedom by venturing to fly too high.
I had started my "spring training", doing daily 4 mile walks around the golf course which was refreshingly different from the Jacksonville beach walk, a few hills and some trees. Then I added a few short jog sections which reminded me of just how much more difficult running is than walking. I got a bit more ambitious and started a more determined "run-walk" on the two mile loop around campus. On the third day of trying the "run-walk" I had to stop the jogging due to some pain in my right leg. It will be two weeks ago come tomorrow (thursday) that this happened. The following day, friday, I was experiencing intense leg pain which I gradually came to realize was in my right hip. By that saturday I was barely hobbling across the living room at an almost imperceptible pace. I will never forget the look of disbelief David's face as he waited for me to let him in the front door: "Dad, you can't be serious!" But I was, the pain being near 10 on the 0-10 scale. I was able to get the volume down only a notch or two on oxycodone. Meg took me to the ER saturday afternoon, but there were no obvious broken bones. Early sunday morning I decided that the only thing that could cause that much pain and not be a broken bone was likely gout, so I started treating it as such. I dug deeply into a prednisone haze.
Monday the 26th it was back to Jacksonville via air-port wheelchair and then tests at Mayo. The infection was declared over. In the meantime, some good news-- the liver looked good on the blood-work and they were thinking about delaying the hep-C treatment. They wanted to do a liver biopsy to check, and an MRI to check the status of the clotted hepatic vein. To do the biopsy I needed to come off of the rat-poison and wait for my clotting to return to normal. These tests were scheduled for this week (yesterday, tuesday April 2 for the biopsy; today, wednesday for the MRI with a visit with the Attending scheduled for tomorrow).
In a little less pain but under a dense prednisone fog Meg and I returned to Abq this past weekend to be with Jeremy and David. I was a bit more independent on newly purchased crutches, and the pain less severe. Then just this past monday AM, back to Jacksonville with Meg who was needed as a caregiver following the biopsy. (Yes, one of her starring roles, personal physician!) Today, I had the MRI and Meg is traveling back to Abq for the passover cleaning and search for chametz.(Starring this time as the good Jewish mother. Have to remember to say the Shabbat prayer for such a wife!) I will fly directly to NYC on Friday when we all meet at the rental-car at La Guardia--Meg, Jeremy and David from Abq, and Amanda from Kenyon.
Whew.
The hip pain is resolving but still worrisome. An MRI of the hip is now scheduled for late tomorrow afternoon. My circumstance is reminiscent of Icarus who was punished for abusing his freedom by venturing to fly too high.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
