Given Linda's experience over the past year with MRSA (which has been chronicled in this blog -- see post below) in addition to the fact that my 3 year old niece was just diagnosed, I wondered whether or not I was beginning to get "germ phobic."
There was an interesting piece in the NY Times Well Blog yesterday that deals with the issue of wearing scrubs in public places. This is something which I had never given a thought to before -- I've seen medical people wearing scrubs at the supermarket, at the dry cleaners, in the dentist's office, and all those other places that we "regular" people frequent in our daily lives. (I was probably even a little impressed up until now -- especially if they had a stethoscope hung around their neck.) Now, I'm thinking "Typhoid Mary" and looking for the quickest exit!
Seriously, though, this brings up an important point. Are you alarmed when you see someone wearing their scrubs in public? If you're not, should you be?
Winnie Tobin
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Sunday, September 21, 2008
IT TAKES A VILLAGE!
Many of you may know that last June I finally had my long awaited ankle replacement surgery. There were a few detours during the healing process. I ended up with a post-op infection, IV antibiotics for six weeks, an open wound that needed dressing twice a day, foot that needed to be elevated during most of that time, and a skin graft. All this took me out of work for about three months. I was then put on oral antibiotics until January. From January until last week, I would get flare-ups of extreme swelling, pain, and redness. My doctor had fluid taken from my ankle a couple of times to make sure the infection was not in the joint. The results from this always came back negative, but the swelling, pain, and redness continued.
Last week, I went to my orthopedic surgeon with the ankle swollen (the worst I had seen yet), painful to the touch, and an angry red color in a certain part. The x-rays didn't show anything -- everything looked great structurally. Together, we made the decision to go in and take out a plate and some screws in the area that was most painful. By the time I went in for surgery on Wednesday (Sept. 10th), I thought my skin would burst from the ankle being so swollen. The screws and plate were removed, but everything else looked good. They took some cultures which didn't show anything. Hopefully, it was just an irritation of the screws and plate with the tissue. Between the ortho doc and the infectious disease (ID) doc, the decision was made to put me on IV antibiotics for at least three weeks. They inserted a pic line and prescribed vancomycin, and then I was discharged. I am also non-weight bearing for a couple of weeks until I get the stitches out.
I have now been at home for a week and a half. I would have been to work sooner if I didn't get hit with the flu in the midst of all this. I realize that what I am going through is so minor compared to what others go through -- after all, I still have my foot, and it's only a few weeks out of my life. It always amazes me, though, how much these recoveries affect everyone. There has been a strain put on my husband, my children, my co-workers, and myself. This is a reality that isn't talked about much when we discuss complications or unanticipated outcomes -- how these setbacks affect so many people!
My family has been doing everything I can't -- all the driving, shopping, cooking, laundry, waiting on me, etc... They don't seem to mind it, as they have actually become used to it over the years. But, I can still see the strain. My co-workers are picking up all the slack at the office, and that adds even more pressure. For me, it's extremely difficult to be so reliant on everyone. As much as I hate to admit this, as I get older, I just don't bounce back as quickly as I used to. For the first few days, I was okay with just healing. Then, I started to get anxious about all the things I needed to do, but I still couldn't focus even if I wanted to. I do realize that what I am going through is pretty minor in the grand scheme of things. I know that I am fortunate to have the support of family and friends around me!
We need to start having dialogue around the impact that goes well beyond the patient's physcial recovery following complications, unanticipated outcomes, and medical error. I would love to hear from those of you with similar experiences. I welcome all your comments.
With warm regards,
Linda
Last week, I went to my orthopedic surgeon with the ankle swollen (the worst I had seen yet), painful to the touch, and an angry red color in a certain part. The x-rays didn't show anything -- everything looked great structurally. Together, we made the decision to go in and take out a plate and some screws in the area that was most painful. By the time I went in for surgery on Wednesday (Sept. 10th), I thought my skin would burst from the ankle being so swollen. The screws and plate were removed, but everything else looked good. They took some cultures which didn't show anything. Hopefully, it was just an irritation of the screws and plate with the tissue. Between the ortho doc and the infectious disease (ID) doc, the decision was made to put me on IV antibiotics for at least three weeks. They inserted a pic line and prescribed vancomycin, and then I was discharged. I am also non-weight bearing for a couple of weeks until I get the stitches out.
I have now been at home for a week and a half. I would have been to work sooner if I didn't get hit with the flu in the midst of all this. I realize that what I am going through is so minor compared to what others go through -- after all, I still have my foot, and it's only a few weeks out of my life. It always amazes me, though, how much these recoveries affect everyone. There has been a strain put on my husband, my children, my co-workers, and myself. This is a reality that isn't talked about much when we discuss complications or unanticipated outcomes -- how these setbacks affect so many people!
My family has been doing everything I can't -- all the driving, shopping, cooking, laundry, waiting on me, etc... They don't seem to mind it, as they have actually become used to it over the years. But, I can still see the strain. My co-workers are picking up all the slack at the office, and that adds even more pressure. For me, it's extremely difficult to be so reliant on everyone. As much as I hate to admit this, as I get older, I just don't bounce back as quickly as I used to. For the first few days, I was okay with just healing. Then, I started to get anxious about all the things I needed to do, but I still couldn't focus even if I wanted to. I do realize that what I am going through is pretty minor in the grand scheme of things. I know that I am fortunate to have the support of family and friends around me!
We need to start having dialogue around the impact that goes well beyond the patient's physcial recovery following complications, unanticipated outcomes, and medical error. I would love to hear from those of you with similar experiences. I welcome all your comments.
With warm regards,
Linda
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
