Today's Surgery

April 30, 2024, Delray Medical Center

SURGERY WENT WELL !!!

My surgery this morning to install a PICC line (catheter) into the left side of my neck went well. I will use it at home to continue my six-week-long regimen of daily intravenous antibiotic infusions for a lingering bone infection within my right ankle. The line starts within a vein in my neck and ends as close to my heart as possible.

I had a similar PICC line installed a few years ago for six weeks, when I endured daily (temporary) dialysis due to intravenous antibiotic-induced kidney failure (both kidneys). I also had a similar catheter installed directly into my neck immediately following my quadruple coronary artery bypass surgery in March 2022. (In May 2022, I had two reconstructive chest surgeries.)

I have had so many lines (intravenous lines, midlines, and PICC lines) installed in recent years for bone infections (osteomyelitis) and infections under the skin (cellulitis) within both of my feet and legs due to diabetic ulcers within both of my feet that the veins within both of my arms automatically collapse whenever the doctors try to install new lines. Extensive scar tissue throughout the veins within my arms makes it even more impossible to install these lines, hence the inevitable choice of my neck for this new line.

For about the last two weeks here at the hospital, I have been receiving multiple daily intravenous antibiotics for a bone infection within my right ankle, plus intravenous (and inhaled) steroids (and an inhaled bronchodilator) for my lungs due to difficulty breathing.

(I am expecting to be discharged from the hospital today or at least soon. UPDATE: I expect to be discharged tomorrow.)

I will be using my new PICC line within 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 many six-week-long daily antibiotic regimens (at least ten times in recent years) for lingering and returning infections within my feet and legs, as well as within my spine.

A home nurse and my wonderful wife will continue to administer my antibiotic medication at home. The nurse will also change the bandages on my right ankle; however, both wounds are basically healed externally, so a bandage may not be required. The pain and swelling within my right ankle has abated slightly; my podiatrist told me it looks better.

(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 within my right ankle and to apply antibiotic cement, but he is not sure how helpful that would be. I declined. He also suggested that I restart hyperbaric treatments to cure my recurring infections, which I will consider. My previous hyperbaric treatments apparently didn't help that much, if at all.

The GOOD NEWS is that after many months since my two spinal surgeries last year, 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 progressed slightly in that unrelated regard.

(In September 2023, I had an abscess (infection) removed within a lower spinal disk. In October 2023, I had a six-hour-long surgery to attach a titanium metal rod to my "collapsing" spine due to a bone infection.

Oh, while here at the hospital this time, I have also received heavy dosages of intravenous Lasix (and Lasix pills) for relief from severe, painful edema within both of my legs, so now you (probably) know how I have been spending much of my time here.

May 1, 2024, Delray Medical Center

UPDATE:

DAMN !!! I have been told that I now only need to continue my daily intravenous antibiotic infusions at home for just a few more days, ending May 4, 2024, instead of the anticipated four to six more weeks. That's GOOD NEWS, but I am disturbed because my surgery yesterday to install a PICC line in a vein in my neck that travels through veins near my heart and with two ports sticking out of my left chest was deemed necessary. (See photo below.)

I understand that it's hospital protocol to discharge patients with PICC lines instead of with regular intravenous ports due to safety (and probably legal) reasons, but I was seriously expecting longer-term medication.

I am grateful that I will soon finalize my intravenous-antibiotic regimen, but I am still bothered that the doctor surgically rigged me with this contraption. I do NOT blame the doctor because his job is to install the lines not to govern the amount of time that they are used.

At one time yesterday, I had three lines in me: the PICC line and regular intravenous lines in veins in both of my wrists. The one in my right wrist has since been removed. The nurse will remove the line in my left wrist before I return home today.

For the last two weeks, I have been receiving multiple intravenous-antibiotic infusions every day here at the hospital.

In recent years, I have endured at least ten six-week-long regimens of daily intravenous antibiotics for infections within the bones and under the skin of my feet and legs, and within my spine. (I have had four surgeries in my left foot and two surgeries in my lower spine.)

I am familiar with the PICC line in my neck. I had the same type of line installed in my neck a few years ago for six weeks, when I endured daily (temporary) dialysis due to a bad reaction to a specific intravenous antibiotic. Both of my kidneys failed, but thankfully both returned to full function. I also had a similar catheter installed directly into my neck immediately following my quadruple coronary artery bypass surgery in March 2022. (In May 2022, I required two related reconstructive chest surgeries.)