After Ron's visit with Dr. K on Monday, he went for a vascular ultrasound of his legs and an X-ray of his right foot. The results to be sent to Dr. K and to Dr. H (I assume - not sure though) - and they should probably also be sent to our family practice doctor. Ron doesn't see any of those doctors before May 3.
We get to the wound care clinic yesterday and are discussing the treatment options that Dr. K has suggested and how he wants Ron to see the lymphedema nurses. They aren't available, so the wound nurses say they can give us some pressure tubing that will give him a little bit of compression and help keep the fluid from pooling in his leg/foot. First, they want to make sure he doesn't have any contraindications that would make it bad for them to put the tubing on him so I told them he'd had a vascular ultrasound the 19th. Since it was in the same hospital the records should be online for them to obtain.
The nurse started searching for the information and finds the X-ray results first. She reads "Degenerative changes noted in right foot; probably evidence of osteomyelitis at the base of the 5th metatarsal." That is not good. Ron says, "What's osteomyelitis?" so I told him that "osteo" means bone and "myelitis" is an inflammation of the covering of the bone. I conveniently left out that "itis" really implies infection because we both know that bone + infection = bad news.
Of course, when I got home I looked up the treatment options for the infection and it seems that the first course of treatment should be an antibiotic but since no doctor is even supposed to see him until May 3, I wonder if they'll call him before that. I sent a note to our family practice doctor but haven't heard back. So, I called Dr. K's office and his nurse will call me back today. We have to get started on an antibiotic to curb this before it gets any worse.
So now we are back into a situation I hoped we'd never see again. Is the bone really infected? If so, can it be cured with just antibiotics? Will the doctor want to open the side of the foot and debride the bone? Will this end up being something simple or something serious? I don't know but I think I'm mentally preparing myself for the worst and hoping for the best.
I heard a good comment the other day that has been sticking with me... It's not so much if we look at our glass as being 1/2 full or 1/2 empty; it's what we view as the glass containing in the first place. I've got to look at it as being 1/2 full of blessings because if there isn't blessings in there in the first place, then we're really in trouble.
1 comment:
I too liked the glass half full of Blessings...but on certain days, I'd like to see a half full glass of WINE!
I always plan for the worst and hope for the best too...
Hugs to you...hang in there.
I took my Dad for wound care and had to learn how to put on those prescription compression stockings. He had ulcers on his legs. He was constantly not drinking enough water and staying on his feet too much. When his legs and feet were swollen, he would CUT OFF THE BANDAGES!!!
He could not "get it" that all three were related!!
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