My hopes of recuperating at home for a few more days were dashed last week when I had to make an outpatient visit to the Emerson lab for a routine blood draw. I was transferring from the car to a wheelchair and pivoting on my good left leg when I heard a crack and felt intense pain. I fainted for a brief moment. The world turned bright white! From having only one good leg I was left with none. The health lab declined to do the blood draw and called a doctor to check me out. It was obvious by now that I would not be going home and would need to be admitted to Emergency. Rather than wheel me there they ordered an ambulance to take me the 100 yards up the road. Must be the shortest ambulance ride ever, but I’m sure that’ll make no difference as to how much I’m billed! I spent a couple of nights at Emerson before being discharged back to MGH. I had surgery on my left leg three days ago and now have a titanium alloy rod taking up most of the internal portion of my left femur, plus a few #14 screws to attach it to the bone. PT was here yesterday and I’m healing well. The story doesn’t end there, however, because I have also been diagnosed with osteosarcoma. While it has not metastasized and the surgeon removed all the infected bone, I’m still facing several months of chemotherapy. Oh well, I still have a lot of books to read, music to listen to, and time to work on my blog at https://onedarnthing.blog/ Feel free to browse.
Tag Archives: Emerson
Day 69: Sunday, July 19
Tagged as: Emerson
5:30 am: I woke up a couple of hours ago and couldn’t get back to sleep. Played my games, except I got stuck on the last two groups in Connections. Read some more from my book “Being Mortal” by Atul Gawande. Dumb scrolled Threads and Facebook. Got more icepacks to put on the incision. Still not sleepy but put on ambient sounds on Apple music and tried again to relax. Woke up an hour or so later and completed the last two groups on Connections. It’s funny how the mind gets stuck on connections you’ve already tried and is incapable of seeing others.
Called nurse for more pain meds. Oral Dilaudid and liquid Dilaudid in the IV. No hallucinations so far! The ortho NP Liz and another guy I hadn’t met before who introduced himself but I promptly forgot what he said. Liz says that I can put full weight on the left leg but I’m nervous about doing that. Will wait until I see the x-rays to see exactly what they did, and PT can stop by to walk me though it. In the evening, Liz stopped by again and said that I should at least sit up on the side of the bed. She said it would hurt, surgical pain, but I want to make sure I have pain killers available before I do that.
I watched the last game of the World Cup, the final between Spain and Argentina. In Martin’s honor I was rooting for Spain, as was Martha who texted me after the game was over. It was a great game – Spain dominated and had multiple unsuccessful shots on goal before finally getting one in in extra time to win the match 1-0.
SLC had earlier mentioned that he wanted x-rays of the left leg, and around 6 pm I saw on the portal that I was booked for 7 pm. 7 pm came and went, and I called the nurse so that I could be loaded up with pain killers before they took me. 7 pm, of course, is shift change , so it wasn’t until after 8 pm until my nurse, Megan, showed up. She didn’t know that I was scheduled for x-rays, but explained that they often put in the order as soon as they knew about it, and that the actual time would be later. She gave me my meds, including Dilaudid and a new one, Toradol, which is a powerful NSAID. When the stretcher showed up around 9 pm she called in another nurse to use the Hoyer lift to transfer me. It was a relatively quick session in imaging, and I was back in my room around 9:30.
Day 67: Friday, July 17
Tagged as: Emerson
The sign on the door says “NPO.” I looked it up, Wikipedia says:
“Nil per os (NPO) is a Latin medical term that translates to “nothing by mouth”. It is a strict directive instructing a patient to avoid consuming any food, beverages, or oral medications. It is used to prevent life-threatening complications like aspiration during anesthesia or to rest the digestive tract”
These doctors sure do love their Latin (and Greek) terms!
Had an ultrasound this morning to check for DVT (Deep Vein Thrombosis). Of course, they could only do the left leg since the right is still bandaged up and in a metal frame. Maureen came in around noon and sat up with me until a bit after 2 pm. The case manager, Andrea, stopped by when Maureen was still here and we asked about trying to get Whittier for rehab this time.
Miranda called me after Maureen left. She and Devin are having their floors done and were supposed to be in an Airbnb, but they just called her and had to cancel. Apparently, the last guest had broken a window, so they could not let the place until it was fixed. Miranda was left at the last moment to try and find another place for the two of them and the cats. Eventually, they decided to stay home and sleep on the couch in the living room, and give Kitty and Sprout free roam.
I’m #3 in the queue for the operating theater. I had hoped to be in by 3 pm, but it’s 3:10 already. Haven’t eaten or drunk anything since last night and getting peckish. In the end they called at 6 pm to tell me that I was not going to be taken today and could finally eat. I finished off the half sandwich that Maureen had brought in the day before and that had been waiting for me in the fridge. I also called for supper and picked at the uninspired pasta and marinara sauce.
Day 68: Saturday, July 18
Tagged as: Emerson
10:30 am: Good news! Nurse Madison stopped by to tell me that they are going to be taking me to the OR soon. Got everything unplugged, and handed over my wedding ring and Fitbit for safekeeping. Called Maureen to let her know and to not come in until they called from the PAC. I don’t know how long the surgery will take, but it’s got to be shorter than the last one. Eventually, at about 12:30, I got taken into surgery. It took about two hours. Recovery was painful. Maureen decided to stay home. It was raining and she didn’t want to drive in the dark. Got back to my room just in time to hear the end of the England-France game. I listened to a couple of Bob Marley live albums.
Day 66: Thursday, July 16
Had a decent sleep, interrupted of course by nurses bringing meds, taking vitals, and drawing blood. Also, they moved a new patient, Jim, next to me late at night. He’s 91 and seems to have multiple problems. I haven’t talked to him. Despite the interruptions, I put on my headphones and listened to ambient sleep sounds and slept soundly till 8 am. Fitbit gave me a 78.
I was not moved to MGH yesterday, obviously. Still waiting for beds to open up.
Sat in on the final MMGA Helpline Training class in the evening. Partway through the nurse stopped in to tell me that a bed had opened up at MGH and that an ambulance had been ordered. I asked if it could be put off until after the class at 8 pm, and she said she’d ask. Came back to say they were ok with that.
Ambulance to MGH: Drove down Memorial Drive and I could see out if the back some of my old haunts from when I worked in Kendall Square. Seems like an age ago. We checked in at MGH and set off for Ellison. It has 23 floors and I was hoping for a high one, but I’m back on the 6th floor which is where I was before. I’m in room 618a – no window, but probably nothing to see anyway! A nice nurse, Caitlin, helped me settle in.
Dr Ratnasamy from orthopedics stopped by. He told me that my femur was fractured, alongside the plate. I’m surprised that the doctors at Emerson didn’t catch it. Anyway, it’s going to be a CAT scan and an X-ray, probably tonight, followed by surgery tomorrow. After discharge from MGH it’ll be a minimum of six weeks in rehab. Will try to catch my case manager to see if we can get into Whittier this time.