[DrewsLou]

Hi all...

I haven't been around here for a couple of months. Life has been crazy. My husband had to have emergency surgery on 2/2 or he would have died. Long long story.... but basically he is T12 para and has been for 13 years. The past 3 years have been a roller coaster of wounds and hospitalizations and near deathness. He has a flap done in July and another done in November. Apparently when they did the flap on his left hip there was an infection in the bone that they did not detect. Soo.. it has been festering for months. In January he broke his left femur. It just snapped in half and the doctor's couldn't figure out why. After a MRI they found huge pockets of abcess encasing his femur from knee to pelvis. we had to make a choice on letting them amputate his leg to the pelvis or try to be a bit more conservative and just remove the bone and infected tissue. There was a good chance he would not make it through the amputaion because he was so sick. We opted to just have them remove the infection and save his leg. In the first few days after the surgery he recieved 15 units of blood. His body just couldn't keep up. He finally turned corner last week and is doing great. He is getting up with PT twice a day and regaining his strength. He is relearning how to transfer with his "floppy fish (as he calls it)" of a leg. His other wounds are healing... I think there is finally light at the end of the tunnel.
It feels so good to be able to get this out to people who know what we are going through and won't judge me for feeling overwhelmed and SO tired.

Thanks for letting me get this off my shoulders!
Have a s great day!

[Joed]

I'm overwhelmed just reading your post. I know that's nothing compared to what you must be feeling.

Do they know what caused the infection to begin with? I didn't realize that a bone could just become infected on its own, without something being introduced to the area that carried and transferred the bacteria. Do they think that an infection elsewhere in his body might have settled into his bones? Sorry for the questions, but your story is pretty scary, and I just want to try and understand it.

Bless you both. I hope that light at the end of the tunnel just continues to grow bigger and brighter. You both deserve better days, that's for sure. Please relay my well wishes to your husband.

[DrewsLou]

Thanks Joed.
They think the infection was either there in the bone already as a result of his pressure sore or was introduced during surgery. It's a scary, scary thing. I think his first surgeon was negligent, but that's a whole nother topic and I think is mostly the anger talking.
I don't know what I would do with out my amazing husband. His spirit through all of this is what amazes me the most. He's the best!

[Jilly]

Onion....your reply is sooooooo sweet!

[cnm2b]

Hang in there - hokey reply yes, maybe but sincerely felt and meant. Be well.

[DrewsLou]

Things are looking up a bit here. His wound that is covered by the vac is considerably smaller and he is able to be up for an hour at a time. His TPN has been decreased to night time only! And the best news....... HE IS COMING HOME NEXT WEEK!

Thank you all for your understanding and your kind words.

[Joed]

Yea!.....coming home.......priceless!

[DrewsLou]

My hubby is coming home on Wednesday!!! His TPN has been dc'd and he is maintaing his nutrition on his own. He will have a home care nurse and stuff when he comes home which we have dealt with before. His home nurse is awesome. We love her!
I am just so happy he is coming home finally. He has been gone for over 2 months. I am getting to the end of my rope emotionally the past few days. I have never felt like this. I know in my heart that everything is going to be okay but I just can't wrap my head around it sometimes. I just feel so helpless and powerless sometimes. It's nice to have a place to come like this to unload and get support. Thanks for listening!

[DrewsLou]

HE IS HOME!!!

[bluebutterflyrn]

Hi DrewsLou. Hope by this time everything is better. Sorry I've just read your post, but believe it or not, I've just gone through the same thing with my love. He's been in ICU deathly ill from an infection that went septic with the organism MRSA. (we just went through this in November). Apparently the original infection was never cleared. Several years ago (long before I knew him) he fell (in one of those wonderful skilled nursing facilities) and broke his hip. They never repaired the fracture, just let it heal on its own. So of course it didn't heal right and allowed a space to fill up with fluid. Because of the infection in the decub to his coccyx, it spread to this area of his hip and formed a huge abscess that ruptured (pouring out a huge amount of drainage and blood). Incompetent doctors treated it with short term antibiotics never knowing what bacteria was even growing in it. Well, the infection finally got the best of him and landed him back in the hospital, first several days in ICU on a dopamine drip trying to keep his blood pressure up, and received several units of blood. Now we're faced with 6 weeks of IV Vancomycin with makes him very sick and very hard on his kidneys. The part that scares me is the fact that the original problem has never been corrected, and I'm afraid this will happen again. He's home now and I'm going up to spend this weekend with him.

Much Love, Blue Butterfly