Surgery Postponed

April 29, 2024, Delray Medical Center

DAMN !!! MY SURGERY TENTATIVELY SCHEDULED FOR TODAY HAS BEEN POSTPONED UNTIL TOMORROW !!!

Now, I am scheduled to have surgery tomorrow to install a PICC line, starting in my neck and ending as close to my heart as possible. It is required to address a lingering bone infection within my right ankle.

Actually, I recently had a line (catheter) briefly installed in my neck before, immediately following quadruple coronary artery bypass surgery in March 2022. I also had a line installed at the base of my neck near my left shoulder about a year or two prior to that for six weeks of temporary dialysis.

I have had so many lines (intravenous lines, midlines, and PICC lines) in recent years for bone infections (osteomyelitis) and infections under the skin (cellulitis) in both of my feet and legs due to diabetic ulcers in both of my feet that the veins in both of my arms automatically collapse when they try to install new lines. Scar tissue throughout my veins makes it even more impossible to install lines.

For about two weeks here at the hospital, I have been receiving daily intravenous antibiotics for a bone infection within my right ankle, plus intravenous (and inhaled) steroids for my lungs due to difficulty breathing. (I am expecting to be discharged from the hospital this week.)

I will be using the PICC line in my neck at home to receive several-times-daily intravenous antibiotic infusions for as long as six weeks, but maybe for four weeks because I have already started receiving the infusions here. (I have endured this six-week-long regimen at least ten times in recent years for lingering and returning infections, including within my spine.)

A home nurse and my wonderful wife will administer my medication. The nurse will also change the bandages on my right ankle; however, both wounds are basically externally healed, so a bandage may not be required. (Many thanks go to my wife and my terrific mother for their support.)

On April 20, 2024, my podiatrist performed surgery on my right ankle: biopsy, deburring, and draining. He has 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. He also suggested restarting hyperbaric treatments to cure my infections, which I will consider. My previous treatments apparently didn't help that much, if at all.

There was also mention of home visits from an occupational therapist and a physical therapist, but that is seemingly because of my recent inability to walk, even to sit, due to my two spinal surgeries (in September 2023 and in October 2023) rather than being hindered by my sore, swollen right ankle. I have endured many months of rehab with therapists in recent years, so I am really able to continue by myself.

The GOOD NEWS is that after many months since my spinal surgeries, I am now able to sit in a chair for several hours without too much discomfort, and I am also able to walk short distances while using a walker. Those surgeries made it impossible for me to sit and to walk, so at least I have slightly progressed in that regard.

Oh, while at the hospital, I have also received heavy dosages of intravenous Lasix (and Lasix pills) for relief from severe, painful edema in both of my legs, so you probably know what I have been doing as a result.