What I Did During My Bronchitis-Themed Staycation

Tuesday: Doc-in-a-box says, "Girl, you sick!"



Wednesday: Sleep. Take Drugs. Sleep. Sleep. Drug. Sleep. Does anyone else get hot-face when they take Prednisone? It's ooky.

Thursday: See Wednesday. Bake 4 loaves of bread (3 edible ones), motivation unknown...



Friday: Begin to feel stir-crazy. Not better, just stir-crazy. Make ill-advised late morning trip to 'burbs to stake out stainless steel cookwear. Go home empty-handed. Return to mall on Friday night to enjoy teenagers ogling each other. Adorable, actually.

Be in right place at right time to tell young lady (25?) that her tiny dress has inched up to her waist on one side, baring her unclad cheek to all. I think I was the only one to notice. She was appropriately horrified.

Return home with Emeril's 10-piece set. I can't stand the man, but All-Clad's done good with this one.



Also, snuck in a Martha cookie dough scoop. Can't wait to use it! Because I'm a dork!



Ate perfectly spicy kung pao tofu. Smoky peppers = amazing. Do you eat them? Or am I the only one?



Watched Ghost Whisperer. See "dork" comment.

Not bad, huh?

What's your week been like?

Seriously? Seriously.

Dear Powers-that-be,

THIS is how you're gonna be? THIS says "Happy Holidays" to you? I've had it with you and your bad gifts. I mean, really, put some thought into it next time. It takes a real idiot to think that my mom having to have a thyroidectomy because of some potentially cancerous nodules would be a nice treat. Especially two years after presenting my dad with leukemia, the gift that keeps on taking. All I can say is that this better work out okay, or next year you don't get a Christmas card.

Your friend (for now),

Me

update (april 10, 2009): mom's hanging in just fine! had treatment dose of irradiated iodine, lost voice and sense of taste, regained both. scan will be in july or august. expected results = super awesomeness. whew!

It's baaa-aaack.

And I'm not talking about the snow. Rawr.

Descriptions of some things that are pretty and some that are not

Dear Internets,

Today it snowed. It was AWESOME. I woke up, fed the cats, went to put the cat food can in the recycling, and there it was right outside my kitchen window. Snow. Giant, fluffy, white flakes of snow. Gore-gee-us. More please. It made me happy all the day long.

Also today, I went to my orthopedist to follow up on my infected surgical incision (see below for whining). It was quite a surprise when he decided to clean it out with pointy tweezers and sharp scissors. It's amazing how deeply those implements can go into a completely un-anesthetized leg. Did I mention that the pointiness? And the sharpness? And that there were no drugs involved? Not even a good knock over the head with a blunt object so as to dull my senses, particularly the one of pain. Why why why? There was bleeding and gagging and hurting and gnashing of teeth, and that was just the doctor. Ba-dump bump. Any-who, there is no longer any visible white or yellow grodiness on/in my leg, thanks to pointy instruments and the weird fascination my ortho has for gross things. Hopefully, it'll be all healed up soon! Just 5 more days of crazy antibiotics.

Fingers crossed! You know -- for more snow and less pus.

Yours in the spreading of unsolicited information,

Me

The never-ending saga of Leggie 2.0

I was so proud of myself. I didn't whine when I had my two leg surgeries. Sure, they were uncomfortable and they inconvenienced me, but they really were far easier than I had expected, and I was grateful. The right leg (the first surgery) has healed amazingly! The scar is small and is bound to fade away to almost nothing. All in all, the whole experience has been pretty positive. Below is evidence of smooth-sailing.



That's all over now. One word -- infection. Yup, the site of my second surgery is infected. It's runny and gross and, according to my orthopedist/surgeon and his new physician's assistant, it smells like feet. Apparently, that's a sign of a particular bacteria.

Here's how it went down. Skip this paragraph if you're easily grossed out or are eating dinner. Okay, I went to the doc Monday for what was supposed to be my final follow-up appointment. I even brought some muffins for my doc and his awesome receptionist to thank them and say goodbye (I've been their patient for over a year now). BUT, when the doc took the steri-strips off of the cut, it exploded. Goo everywhere. The looks on the doc and PA's faces were a touch worrisome. They were seriously freaked out. They stammered amongst themselves, squeezed it, smelled it (what a horrible job!), squeezed it some more, pulled the edges apart (the whole length was open and you could see down into my leg -- the incision had basically not healed at all), and discussed some options. They mentioned giving me an immediate antibiotic IV, mass doses of drugs (varying depending on what kind of bacteria it was), and scheduling me for surgery the next day to open it and clean it out.

Thankfully, they went for the relatively most conservative approach -- drugs. So now, I'm on a crazy huge dose of Augmentin (1000 mg twice a day! Thank heavens I don't have a negative reaction to amoxicillin -- I hear it can be pretty awful) to try to knock out the nastiness. I go back to the doc on Friday to get it checked out. If the drugs have done their duty, yay! If not, I "get" to go back into surgery Tuesday to get it opened up and cleaned out. Charming.

Meanwhile, I'm taking photos once a day when I change the dressing so that I can track the healing. My doc called today to check on it/make sure Wound (its nickname) hadn't exploded again or begun attacking small animals and children.

I wasn't prepared for this stuff. And I'm afraid that I haven't handled it in the best way possible. I have become super grumpy. Yesterday, I was so whiny that my office mate brought me lunch to try to cheer me up. I can't deal with the idea that there is this extended family of bacteria hanging out in my leg. It's just really disturbing. So, fingers crossed that Wound makes a hasty farewell, never to be seen again. Goodbye, and good riddance!

It's for your own good.

I'm taking a brief hiatus from posting. I have a cold and am quite whiny about it. Apparently, leg surgeries I can handle; congestion and sore throat makes me into a tiny baby. So, I'll see you when I'm well again. Which may be never. Did I mention the whininess?