KNEE SURGERY WEEK

 That was a long week!

As I mentioned in the last post, I checked into the hospital Thursday, October 6. On Friday, the surgeon's mother-in-law (Christian lady who also works at the hospital as an anesthesiologist) came and sat with me as I was prepped for surgery. Several people told me, "You must be a very special lady for Mary to come in on her day off!"

I know I'm no one special, but I serve a God Who enjoys sending special blessings. 

When Keith buys me roses, he always requests 1 yellow (Yellow Rose of Texas).
I feel doubly loved as this one was a double bloom!

The surgery went well, and the surgeon even shared pictures with me. The reason I kept having repeated bouts of swelling in Uganda is that the bacteria made pockets inside of my knee, so when I would get it aspirated to relieve the fluid, not everything was being drained because of the many pockets, so the bacteria would just regrow.  However, the doctor said getting it aspirated 9 times probably saved my life and prevented the infection from causing sepsis.

Two days after surgery, the doctor removed the wrap, gave me a brief look of the long incision and stitches, and then slapped a large bandage on it that is like my second skin for two weeks. On Saturday I got to experience the insert of a PICC line. Tubing that goes from my arm to an area near my heart - that is a different feeling!

On Sunday, my potassium levels were low, so I had to drink potassium fizzy drinks to get those levels up.  My hemoglobin levels (which were already low) were fluctuating too much for the doctor's liking, so my iron supplements were increased.

We thought I would be released from the hospital on Monday, but we hit a snag. The hospital couldn't identify the bacteria.  All of the cultures kept coming back negative. My doctor finally took the fluid off-site to a large lab with more sophisticated equipment, and the rare bacteria was finally identified. Then came the process of finding antibiotics it wasn't resistant to which took another day. 

When the medicines were started, I was told to notify the nurse of anything that felt different. Wednesday I woke up with a feeling of pressure in my chest. This set off alerts because the PICC line delivers the antibiotics so near my heart. Wednesday afternoon I had an EKG, which came back with an all-clear.  By Wednesday evening the pain had lessoned, and the nurse and I were thinking it was probably heartburn (I was taking several oral medicines) or I had pulled a muscle in turning or getting out of bed.  The floor doctor wasn't convinced, so another night stay in the hospital so that I could have an echocardiogram Thursday morning. I was SO ready to leave at this point! Both the doctor and nurse called the technician and asked them to read the report as soon as possible, and I was finally cleared to leave. The nurses were clapping and cheering for me as I was wheeled out and got to view the Florida sun for the first time in 8 days. 

If you are needing rest, a hospital is NOT the place to be. I slept a lot the first two days out of the hospital trying to recover from exhaustion. The typical hospital schedule was something like this: 

3:00 am Vitals
4:30 am Blood Draw
5:00 am Start I.V. and Vitals
6:00 am Changing of personnel started - the night personnel would bring in the day personnel (new nurse leader, nurse, and tech over the course of 2 hours).
7:00 am Vitals and Stomach injection (blood thinner)
8:00 am Breakfast
9:00 am First I.V. Finishes and Second Begins. Vitals. Cafeteria retrieved tray.
9:30 am Physical Therapy
10:00 am Floor Doctor
11:00 am Vitals
12:00 pm Lunch
1:00 pm Vitals. Start I.V. Cafeteria retrieved tray.
3:00 pm Vitals. Housekeeping.
5:00 pm Vitals and Supper
6:00 pm Cafeteria retrieved tray
7:00 pm Vitals
9:00 pm Vitals. Start I.V.
11:00 pm Vitals and finally quiet until 3:00 unless I needed pain meds

I was taking two different pain medications - one which was every 4 hours and the other was every 6 hours. Then there were the extra personal coming into my room - a person to check the oxygen supply in my room, a person to check the sharps container to see if it needed emptied, a person to resupply the disposable gloves...

The Lord has blessed me with a wonderful couple to stay with. They have a walker for my use. They live in a one-story house. She is a great cook and very attentive to my needs, and they keep me laughing. I have been blessed with flowers, cards, dark chocolate and fruit. 

I am so thankful to God for providing just what I needed. Truly, He loves His children.

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