This is turning into a real roller coaster ride. The morning started off at home normally, took my pills and played my games. Late morning when I still hadn’t heard from VNA about the nurse to do my blood draw, I called. Got a call back on the landline, which I missed as the handset was out of charge, but I was able to redial and got through to the scheduler in Concord who told me that the nurse had a family emergency and that there wasn’t another available. That was when we decided to go to Emerson to get it done there.

Butt slid downstairs. It was harder this time but I made it into the car. We arrived at Emerson and that’s when it happened! Maureen pulled in at the entrance and went to get a wheelchair. I hauled myself out of the car and on my good leg maneuvered myself so I could sit in the chair. It was a very wide chair and we couldn’t angle it towards the car. As I pivoted to lower myself in the chair I heard a crack in my good leg and the world went white. I found myself sitting in the chair but my vision was all off. It was much brighter outside and my field of vision blurry. I didn’t feel terrible, just stunned by what had happened.

In the blood lab they declined to do the blood draw and called in a doctor. They put an IV in my arm, with a saline bag, as apparently I was severely dehydrated. He said I needed to go to the ER. Msureen said she could push me (even though it’s up a slope) but the EMTs had turned up and said it would be best for me to have a stretcher. So that’s what we did -lifted me on to a stretcher followed by an ambulance ride of less that 100 yards.

The “good” leg is no longer good. It was pretty obvious that I wasn’t going to be able to go home. It’s quite painful and I can’t put any weight on it. The doctors in the ER took x-rays but didn’t see anything, so maybe it’s just a bad sprain. I messaged SLC, but it was after 5 pm. Fortunately, one of the doctors was able to reach him. SLC wants me back at MGH tomorrow. Emerson is deferring a CAT scan until  I get there.

Initially my systolic blood pressure was low, in the 80s. This is consistent with the fainting (aka syncope) episode. After an hour or so however the blood pressure came up. They also drew blood for a blood culture and a Sepsis Lactic Acid test. The first test put me in the elevated zone, with a measure of 3.1 mMo/L (milli Moles per liter). A later blood test had me returning to the normal range of 1.8.

I’m not happy at all with VNA and will not use them again. I specifically asked them when booking nursing appointments for the two blood draws on Monday. The nurse they sent yesterday couldn’t do it so there was no point in her coming out. The dressing she replaced on my left leg quickly fell off after she left. The OT person they sent out couldn’t tell me anything I didn’t already know, and PT never showed up. They didn’t return my first few phone calls when I asked what had happened to the results of the blood tests, and those turned out to be time critical as they showed that my WBC had increased. Finally, if they had sent a nurse to do the blood draw today like they were supposed to, then I wouldn’t have needed to go to Emerson, and the fall would never have happened.

Spent most of the day at Emerson for an NM bone scan where I get a shot of radioactive technetium and phosphorus. Then wait a couple of hours or more for the chemicals to bond to the bone. Then run through a scanner. They must have seen something because after they sent me to have more X-rays of both legs, arms, and pelvis

When we got back I had Maureen set up the travel wheelchair to take me to the greenhouse where they could point out where things were.

The results of the tests came in. Not good news. The results of the NM bone scan and X-rays are in, and the telling phrases are “concern for malignancy” and “concern for osteolytic metastatic disease.” Here we go again! Trust in the doctors, but how to break the news? Maureen and I are scared of course, the prognosis is in terms of how much longer I can live. What will the doctors be recommending? The symptoms of this disease bear out the fracture being caused by weakened bone. So what will this do to my recovery from the fracture? I message Chen and Lozano to see what they have to say. Would love to be able to get on with my life, but that seems unlikely. Am I going to bow out early?

In the evening, I sat in on the second lecture of the roots of conservation series. Another 1.5 hours towards graduation requirements.

Struggled to get up, but managed the bathroom downstairs. Appetite good – not ravenous – but had my regular boiled egg and Marmite toast. More painkillers. Read that pregabalin and oxycodone have a negative interaction so I messaged Dr. Fanucci that I was suspending pregabalin.

CT scan at Emerson. Had to negotiate how to get out of kitchen into garage. From a standing position (on one leg supported by frame) I have to kneel down (on the knee of the bad leg first, then knee of good leg) and roll to the left to sit on my butt, rotate to have legs pointing out the door, then butt slide down the steps. Once on the stoop of the garage, I can hoist myself up with arms on the car door door frame, good leg push up, and slide my left buttock cheek onto the passenger seat. Then reach over and with hands around right thigh lift the leg into the car. The appointment itself was less of a problem. Roll up into the circle at the entrance of hospital and a wheelchair guy shows up. Called Miranda while waiting for the scan. Devin’s in Vietnam visiting his parents.

The scan was no problem. The test results will later show nothing exceptional. Pick up the oxycodone script from CVS, and a wheelchair from the Stow Council on Aging social worker.

Back home and now it’s time to get the plants for the plant sale out of the greenhouse, labeled, and loaded into the truck. The plan originally was that Maureen would drive to the Red House and drop them off, but Anne Sterling said she’d pick them up. (She did, the next morning.)

Now the trip up the stairs to the bedroom. Tricky, but the butt slide is the best way into bed. Much better night’s sleep, woke up a few times – at one point the leg was hurting a lot but popped an oxycodone and managed to drift off again.