9 August 2023
I started the morning like gangbusters! I felt good, the coffee tasted right, and I was looking forward to starting my walks back again. After reading newspapers online, I got this strange gurgling sound coming from my belly and I knew that meant there wasn’t going to be a morning walk except to the bathroom and back. After 4 trips, I finally made it back to bed and found out I was in pain no matter what position I placed myself.
What was really strange is that when I took a breath, my left side hurt from the front of my chest to the back of my torso. Being the hypochondriac I am, I immediately figured I was developing pneumonia since Klebsiella pneumoniae is known to cause bacterial pneumonia. I put a call into the Nurse Navigator and left a voice mail about my problems and wanted to know options. I knew if it got worse I would take myself to the emergency room but I also knew that Dr. Burgers said she could work me in tomorrow if needed.
The Nurse Navigator called me back and said I could remove the compression bandage that was wrapped around my chest. That immediately alleviated a lot of the pain I was experiencing. When I finally unwrapped my mummified body, I had a huge wad of gauze sticking out of one of the incisions made on Monday. It had to be most of a whole roll. There was no sense in letting it dangle so I found some scissors and cut off the excess. Hopefully Dr. Burgers will unpack it tomorrow.
The drain is working overtime. This morning I had 50 ml of pinkish blood. Thank goodness it has turned pink and is not blood red any more. That’s what the first drain was supposed to do but did not ever accomplish.
Monday, the day the drain went in, I got 60 ml of red. Tuesday, it was emptied three times and it was 100 ml, the first 30 red and the next 70 was pink.
This morning is was 50 ml and still pink. I still will probably empty the drain one or two more times before the day is over.
Holley and I just figured I’ve had four doses of antibiotic. That leaves 10 doses (5 days) more on that.
Of course, after setting the appointment for tomorrow with Dr. Burgers, I immediately forgot the time. I had to email the Nurse Navigator to find out it was 11:45 so I need to be there around 11:30 am.
It seems every step forward I take, I step two backwards. Better end this now. I hear gurgling again.
Stay tuned!
Thank goodness that your nurse navigator is quick to respond. So glad that removing the binding helped. Let’s hope that Dr Burgers is able to help further tomorrow. Thank goodness you have such good friends helping out. I especially appreciate all that Holley has done for you and for keeping me informed. I hope that her husband is doing well.