Holy cow has it ever been an eventful integration into life
in Maple Ridge. It literally feels like
I have been in recovery mode since I got here, but I sure do love it here. First it was the fractured wrist and the
rehab which lead me to Spinal Decompression.
It was wildly successful and I was all set for hockey season when my eye
went wonky and I had a torn detached retina.
Now my latest adventure.
Early in the season I had a puck bounce off the side of my
foot. Not a hard shot, didn’t hurt all
that much but afterwards my little toe was swollen. Fast forward a few weeks and on a Thursday
morning, after playing the night before, I noticed a little white mark on the
top of my toe. I rubbed it and a little
pus came out.
So, I rinsed it with alcohol, put on Polysporin and a
Band-Aid and thought nothing more about it.
The next morning, pus was oozing out and when I touched the toe it
poured out. I did the same routine,
alcohol, Polysporin and a Band-Aid. By
this point I was feeling as sick as a dog and let the organizers know I would
not be playing Sunday morning. I felt
like I had a wicked cold or flu. To this
point my toe was not hurting.
Sunday morning and my toe was a gawd awful mess, leaking all
over and hurting. I took Renee to the
swimming pool and while I was waiting, the pain was growing, so when she came
back I told her we’re going to the hospital.
After getting in and being seen, the Doctor immediately put
me on a dose of intravenous antibiotics, cleaned and dressed the wound. He told me the flu like symptoms could
possibly be the earliest indicators of going into sepsis. Now the bad part of sepsis, is if left alone,
it will kill you.
An x-ray of my toe revealed no fracture, but there were
several holes in the bone indicating that the infection had infiltrated the
bone which make treatment very difficult.
I must visit the hospital every afternoon for another course of
intravenous antibiotics. This will now
be going on for 4 to 6 weeks of daily visits and doses.
I had a strange vision the other day as well. I was sitting in a long corridor waiting for
the Doctor to see me, when I looked way down the hall. There was a man walking towards me and I
would swear on a stack of bibles that it was my Dad who passed away in January
2015. To the best of my knowledge, he
had never been to Ridge Meadows Hospital.
So, this man is walking towards me. He was wearing a grey and blue patterned
jacket, just like my Dad. He was the same
height and build and had the same hairstyle.
It was kind of freaky. Finally,
when he got close enough, I could see that he was in fact a real, solid person,
but up close he did not look anything like my Dad. Other than the height, weight, hairstyle and
clothes.
As of this morning my toe looks good, it’s not leaking
anymore and doesn’t hurt much. My feet
which tend to swell are way less swollen now.
Although the Doc suggested I start wearing compression socks. So, I bought a pair of those today. If this course of antibiotics doesn’t work
and there is no indication that they won’t, then they will have to amputate my
toe.
Meanwhile no hockey, as I have an IV tube sticking out of my
arm. Even if I could pad it up enough,
the antibiotics have played hell with my stamina and I’m only able to complete
about ¼ of our normal morning walk. This
morning though, I managed to do the whole thing for the first time in 2
weeks. After breakfast, I passed out and
slept until it was time to go back to the hospital.
Throughout all these misfortunes, I am still smiling and
every morning I wake up and look around and am so happy and thankful to be
living in my wonderful new place. I
appreciate it every day and I’m so glad to be here. All my neighbours are great and the complex
is starting to take on a spooky air as people get into the spirit of
Halloween. Maybe I should be one of the
Walking Dead, because man that is how I feel.
Oral antibiotics would be so much worse though. I will get through it.
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