And it’s not one I’ve ever thought I’d need or want to learn. I was discharged from the hospital this afternoon. Five long days of fighting off high fevers, getting poked for blood tests, x-rays, ultrasounds, procedures and, except for the times I’d have to go for those tests, looking at the same four walls the whole time (I was in isolation) with a constant companion at my side - an IV pole and pump. People had to wear funny yellow plastic gowns and gloves and some even wore masks so sometimes it felt a bit science fiction-like surreal.
So what did they find out? I have a mutated e-coli bacteria that is “multi-resistant” which means there’s not much that kills it off. But there is one thing, though. It’s an IV administered antibiotic and so that’s where my new skill comes in.
I came home with a PICC line in my left upper arm. That is a “peripherally inserted central catheter” that starts in my arm and ends up in my superior vena cava above my heart. And then I have these two little tubes with IV plug-ins (I don’t know the technical term for these so I do the best I can!) hanging out of my left forearm. Tomorrow morning a home health nurse is coming to teach me how to use these things. I will learn how to flush them with saline solution, how to mix the IV medicine and connect it into one of the plugs, how to adjust for and count the “drips” so the drug is going into me at a pre-determined rate, how to remove it, flush the lines again and be happy until I do it again the next day.
Hey maybe my next job evolution will be as a back up IV nurse, eh?? (just kidding Judi - I’m not going anywhere EVER and especially not nursing!)
But I look at the list of things I will learn tomorrow and I think the hardest one to learn will to “be happy until I do it again the next day…” I feel like I’ve lost a whole week to fever delerium and procedures and lots and lots of sleep (I was exhausted from the 102 temps I was running most of the day Tuesday). It was all an unplanned intrusion in my life. When I got home tonight I realized it’s the 2nd of February and I already have monthly bills to pay and so many things to do that I had planned for last week. And as I look around my house (which is NEVER spotlessly clean) I realized just how fast everything turned around last Monday because I left dishes in the sink and an alarm clock set to go off every 9:30 PM and much more. It’s all a blur to me now.
So how am I going to be happy everyday when I am so far behind, still very tired from this crazy week and needing to do last week’s things as well as the things I had planned for this week? It all feels very overwhelming. But then my friend Laura calls me and says “see you on Monday” as we finished the call. Monday? What was Monday? Apparently she and another friend, Dee, had already planned that they were coming to my house on Monday to help me get my house cleaned up. Even when I don’t ask I’m still “given unto.” Thank you Lord!
And I was feeling very squeamish and fearful about this IV thing and doing it myself but then I got to thinking about how I just didn’t think I could pack my post surgical wound and I’ve made it through that - wasn’t easy at first but now it’s old hat. So I know that the Lord can help me with this, too. (”I can do all things…”)
And how will I get caught up with all my work both at home and employment related? I don’t have the answer to that but I know that the Lord knew about last week long before it happened so I am hoping I can get to a place in my heart to trust him to help me get done what I need to complete - no more and no less.
On a less spiritual note, I discovered that Jaime and I must have made quite an impression last December. I was on the same floor she and I were on together the night before the surgery as well as where I went to after I left the ICU and so some of the staff I had caring for me this time were the same staff that were there last time. Several times I had people coming in and they’d look at me and say “I remember you!!!!” and had some story to tell about what they remembered when it was both Jaime and I together or when I was on my own later. Most of them were pretty funny stories. In fact a couple of them reminded me of stories I’d forgotten. I’ll tell you one brief one because it is probably the most amusing:
Jaime and I had a nursing tech named Carlos the night before the surgery. We knew from the second he walked in the door that he was a “party in a box” and we would have fun with him. This past week he reminded me of how he had asked Jaime if she had family there (my sister was there so where was Jaime’s family?) and she told him she was married. So Carlos just blurted out “Does your husband know you’re here and giving away a kidney????” Oh we had a laugh on that one! And we teased him unmercifully.
Okay I’m tired of writing and, no doubt, you are tired of reading. But thanks for reading anyhow.
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