Where I've been

First, I want to say thanks to my dear friend Barb. I had no idea how to alert my blogging friends that I was in the hospital and never even thought to have someone log in with an update. You're the BEST!!!

Now ... The lymph edema on my thigh (which the doctor called a pannus) was bright red (like a bad sunburn) and warm to touch. I went to an urgent care center and was sent to the ER and then admitted to the hospital. I was told this could have been life-threatening. They did IV antibiotics and there has been some improvement. They did a CT scan to ensure that there was no abcess in there and there was not. One could almost wish there had been as they would have had no choice but to do the surgery to remove the pannus now. As it is, I got to come home and will have to search out a plastic surgeon to do the removal. The surgeon I talked with in the hospital said this will now be prone to infection and likely it has been infected for a while but I just didn't know it. That is the prognosis right now. Health insurance should kick in at work Sept 1st and I'll be seeing a primary care physician and getting a referral asap. I'm starting to research it all now.

I feel fine but for some bruises where they had a difficult time putting in a second IV. They had a good one that didn't hurt in the ER but the antibiotics burned up the vein and it collapsed after two days. They had to establish a new one. Two IV therapy nurses and a vein ultrasound later, they finally got it right but not before they hurt the heck out of both my arms in the process. I'm not a good patient and Tim could certainly attest to that!

He stayed in the hospital with me the whole time. My brother and younger sister did come up and took him home for meds and out for lunch one day but other than that, he was right there. I was a bit irritated by it, truthfully. I know he loves me and was worried about me and didn't want to leave me by myself in case I needed something but dang it I would have slept better knowing he was home and in bed. I pray my sister comes to stay when I have surgery (and she's said she will) so she can shuttle him back and forth and help care for him and then me when I am discharged.

While in the hospital, I did get more rest than I cared to have, really. I was about to go stark raving crazy laying in that doggone bed all day. I don't know how anyone puts up with it.

I had fun playing with the bed, though. They brought a special bariatric bed to that floor for me. The nurses knew very little about how to operate it. One afternoon while Tim went to lunch, I started to push buttons. I had that bed up hip high and wondered what I was going to do if I couldn't get it back down again! Can you imagine the look on the nurses faces? Oh it was a hoot. Such fun amusing myself!

I've been teasing Tim I need a laptop that is wi-fi capable so I can go online in hot spots. I'm betting the hospital has that because they do everything online there now. I can dream anyway ... cuz then I could stay in touch while I'm down next time. *sigh* Yep, I can dream!

I'll weigh in tomorrow morning. I'm guessing I may have lost a few pounds but maybe not. A lot of the time, I was very hungry so I'm betting I wasn't getting enough calories. We all know how that can affect losing weight.

I'm off work until Tuesday. I didn't ask them to let me off that long. I just called them and said I'd be in on Tuesday. I want a few days to rest and be with Tim before going back to the rat race. On that front, I did have some good news though. One of the overnight staff who is full-time has given notice. That may mean I can move to that shift soon. I get to keep the good health insurance that kicks in soon. I get to work a shift I think I can tolerate. The only downside is losing some of the money I make now. I dunno if the extra $7000 per year is worth the stress and responsibility, though. I'm still exploring and thinking on it.