Saturday, September 7, 2019

And The Saga Continues

Wow. Has it really been TEN MONTHS since I posted an update? I actually did write something last December which wasn't posted. I just re-read it. How depressing. Maybe I'll post it eventually, but not now. It's not uplifting, to say the least.

So much has happened since November, 2018...

Went for surgery February 18, 2019. Lumpectomy. Piece of cake, right? Well...Fortunately I'm fuzzy on some of the details, but I DO remember bleeding through the incision onto my hospital gown. Twice. On at least one of  these occasions there was ALOT of blood. A. LOT. Did this portend what was to come? I think I had something like 40 stitches. That sure seems like a lot for a mere lumpectomy, but, what do I know?

Fast forward to Saturday, March 9th, 2019. I didn't feel very well. I actually hadn't felt well the day before, either. Thankfully I had the presence of mind to take my temperature. I think it was 100 point-something. Not alarmingly high. Not unless one is post-surgical, apparently. Took it again off and on for the next couple of hours while calling my surgeon's office. For hours. I kept leaving messages. Doesn't his office have a plan for after-hours patient emergencies? Apparently not.

 I finally called the number on the back of my health insurance ID card and was advised to go to the E.R. I still wasn't alarmed, I mean, 100 point-something isn't so bad, right?

 Getting out of bed and forcing myself to go to the E.R. was a chore. I SO wanted to just stay home. I mean, who really wants to go to an E.R. and wait? And. Wait. For. Hours. Not fun, especially when one is feeling shitty. Of course one wouldn't be going there otherwise. But I digress.

 I thank God that I went. The alternative might have been quite tragic.

Where was I? Oh, yes, asking, "A 100 point-something fever really isn't so bad, right?"

WRONG. That 'little' fever began an 8-day odyssey of sepsis and two surgeries. Yes, two additional* surgeries. I was told that they were surprised that my kidneys hadn't shut down. They took (skip this sentence if you're squeamish) 1.7 liters of fluid and a bunch of necrotic tissue from my left breast. They packed it and, several days later, were blessedly able to close it up with the second surgery. I was discharged on March 17, 2019. Happy St. Patty's Day! No green beer for me, however, as I had around-the-clock oral and IV-port (all available veins had been blown) antibiotics prescribed through the end of that month. Every eight hours I sat at the kitchen table, donned a mask and gloves, and administered four syringes (two saline) to myself through my chemo port. It was a little scary. That plus the oral antibiotics.

 When I think of the eight days of in-patient antibiotics, both oral and IV, PLUS the two weeks post-op of the same, it just blows my mind re: how bad this infection must have been. Well, it was sepsis. SEPSIS. That's SCARY. So, at this point, I think I had 50+ stitches. That part of my body looked like something Dr. Frankenstein had assembled. What a mess. But there's a difference between life-saving surgery and cosmetically-appealing surgery. At this point, I am definitely sporting the former.

After all of this, I was told that "the tumor board" (Is that some sort of secret club? Do they have a secret handshake?) advised that I should have a mastectomy.* And, here we are, in early September, 2019. I've been waiting all summer for that surgery. I'm currently on my second plastic surgeon and my third general surgeon. I'm still on my first infectious disease Dr., however. Oh, that reminds me, I had a SECOND infection in late July. Thankfully that E.R. visit did NOT result in hospitalization, merely IV antibiotics and a 10-day oral course. UGH.

 My poor old 14 year-old dog truly would've lost her mind.

 You may be asking what the holdup is. Well, back in March, the local E.R. had shipped me off to a hospital 25 miles from home, claiming that all nearby were full. Thus I received care from a whole slew of doctors whose offices are at least 25 miles away.

 Lately my insurance company...need I go on? I'm currently in the middle of waiting on a referral to a new surgeon who is closer to home. Not a bad thing as I was, shall we say, losing faith in the former. I could write a whole essay on his office staff alone but I'll spare you.

Well, that tale was surprisingly easy to tell, after all. Either enough time has elapsed to be able to write about it comfortably or I've left out a lot. If you've read this far, I thank you. I definitely do not intend to wait almost a year until the next update.
The saga continues...








* Why have one surgery when you can have four? (Or five?)