1st Day At The Hospital

April 21, 2023

I am in a bed within the hallway of the Emergency Room of Boca Raton Regional Hospital with a severe cellulitis infection in my right foot/ankle/leg (photo) due to a lingering diabetic ulcer in my right foot. I received my first bag of intravenous antibiotic and then started my second bag, so I am already on the mend. I will be admitted to a hospital room later. I will require several bags of intravenous antibiotic. I had an ultrasound done of my right leg, during which I threw up into a special plastic vomit bag. Yes, I am quite ill.

I am also dealing with shortness of breath, so I just had two chest X-rays. I was admitted to the hospital about a month ago for shortness of breath, where I was issued yet another asthma medication, but there really has been no improvement. I am trying again this time, hoping for better results.

About a month ago when I was in the hospital, my cardiologist ran a battery of cardiac tests for the first anniversary of my quadruple coronary artery bypass surgery in March 2022. All is well. In May 2022, I then had two reconstructive chest surgeries for the removal of loose sternal plates and an infection within my chest.

I have been hospitalized MANY times with cellulitis separatedly in both of my feet/legs during recent years. I have had four surgeries on my left foot, three of them in 2021: two surgeries to remove bone fragments due to osteomyelitis (bone infection) and one surgery to remove a tumor that was growing within a diabetic ulcer. Several years earlier, I had part of an infected bone removed within the outer side of my left foot.

Several times in recent years,  I have required six-week-long regimens of daily intravenous antibiotic for cellulitis using a PICC line. During one of these times in January 2021, I was not monitored properly, so both of my kidneys stopped functioning. I required six weeks of dialysis, every day for four straight hours. Thankfully, both of my kidneys' functioning returned.

A physician's assistant just visited me. I asked her for some pain medication for my right foot. She asked me if Morphine is OK. I immediately said, "Yes," but in my head was, "Dear wonderful lady. YES !!! PLEASE spare me from this constant, severe pain." Acetaminophen basically does absolutely nothing.

I am quite enjoying the Morphine that was administered though my intravenous port, but only after receiving an intravenous anti-nausea drug that was administered in the same way. The anti-nausea drug, of course, made me feel nauseated for about a minute.

Getting Closer: I was moved from the hallway into an actual room in the hospital's Emergency Room.

UPDATE: CT scan of right leg

UPDATE: in my hospital room