New Intravenous Port

April 28, 2024, Delray Medical Center

Here it is around 3:30 a.m., and my time in Hell continues. The intravenous port that I had installed in my left wrist on April 26, 2024, just two days ago, failed with pain. A nurse just installed a new one in the back of my right hand and then removed the malfunctioning line.

Tomorrow, I am scheduled to have surgery to install a PICC line, starting in my neck and traveling through veins within my chest. I have had so many lines in recent years for infections that the veins in both of my arms automatically collapse when they try to install new lines. Scar tissue makes it even more impossible.

Over several days here at the hospital, I have been receiving daily intravenous antibiotics for a bone infection in my right ankle, plus intravenous steroids for my lungs. I am expecting to be discharged from the hospital early this week.

I will be using the PICC line at home to receive daily intravenous antibiotic infusions for as long as six weeks, but maybe four weeks because I am already receiving them here. A home nurse and my wife will administer my medication; the nurse will also change the bandages on my right ankle, which is basically externally healed.

My podiatrist recently performed surgery on my right ankle: biopsy, deburring, and draining. He suggested another surgery to clean out the joint in my right ankle and to apply antibiotic cement, but he is not sure how helpful that would be. I am probably going to skip that surgery.

I am also expecting visits at home from an occupational therapist and a physical therapist.

The GOOD NEWS is that I am now able to sit in a chair for several hours without much discomfort, and I am also able to walk short distances while using a walker, but now hindered by my swollen, sore right ankle. My two spinal surgeries in 2023 made it impossible for me to sit and to walk, so at least I have slightly progressed.

MENTION: This past evening, I also received a heavy dosage of intravenous Lasix for severe, painful edema in both of my legs, so you probably know what I have been doing.