Medical Update

June 30, 2024, at home, medical update

PHOTO: breathing exercise

My podiatrist just made a house call this evening. The good news is that my blood infection is officially gone, as per two recent blood tests. However, I am still dealing with a bone infection in my right ankle due to a recent fracture, possibly from two not-so-recent fractures.

In April 2024, I had a surgical procedure in my right ankle: a bone biopsy, a deburring of the bone, and a draining of fluid, all by my podiatrist. I was on a six-week-long regimen of daily intravenous antibiotic infusions, but I ended that a few days early about two months ago due to breathing difficulty.

I still have a PICC line (midline?) Installed that enters a vein within the left side of my neck and goes through my veins, close to my heart. The other end exits the left side of my chest with two ports. The plan is for me to have my infectious-disease doctor remove the line, maybe tomorrow.

This evening, my podiatrist prescribed oral antibiotics. He also wants me to restart hyperbaric treatments to ultimately cure my infection. I have been dealing with bone infections (osteomyelitis) and skin infections (cellulitis) in both of my feet and my legs for many years due to diabetic ulcers within both of my feet. My ulcers have been healed for a while, but I do now have a wound in my right shin.

I have had four surgeries on my left foot in fairly recent years: one to remove part of a decayed bone; one to remove a joint and bone fragments; one to remove bone fragments and scar tissue a few days later; and one to remove a benign tumor that was growing within a diabetic ulcer.

I have fairly recently used the hyperbaric chambers for a few months. The treatments seem to help.

Overall, I am doing fairly well, other than the infection in my right ankle; severe edema in both of my legs and my feet; and breathing difficulty due to asthma and weak lungs. I need to reschedule a breathing test with my pulmonologist. Also, I have been doing breathing exercise to strengthen my lungs, and using prescriptions: a corticosteroid and a bronchodilator, as inhaled powder; as inhaled mist via a nebulizer; and as an aerosol device. I have also occasionally been taking an oral expectorant. I also use supplemental oxygen.

I endured six surgeries in about the last two years:

March 2022 - quadruple coronary artery bypass surgery, including removal of a vein in my left thigh
May 2022 - opened chest to remove sternal plates (that were holding my broken breastbone together) due to loose screws and also a staph infection
May 2022 - closed chest with seven sutures after about a week of my chest remaining open with a wound vacuum attached; wound vacuum then reattached
September 2023 - removal and cleaning out of an abscess/infection in a spinal disk
October 2023 - titanium metal rod attached to my spine due to a bone infection
April 2024 - a bone biopsy, a deburring, and a draining of fluid of right ankle due to a bone infection

(I also fairly recently had nasal/sinus surgery to remove eight polyps and to have my eight sinuses cleaned and expanded.)