Friday, January 01, 2016

More Health Challenges

After having the back surgery the day before Thanksgiving, things were healing pretty well, except for my left ankle and top of my left foot. I even went back to work (mornings only), but I was feeling some discomfort. An MRI of my back on the 18th of December showed the surgery went well, but medication was given to relax my leg nerves and to keep away any moderate to severe pain (narcotics). As the days went by, the narcotics were building up in my system and by Christmas Eve, I was not myself. After going to bed that evening, I started having some acid reflux, so got up to take some Tums. Such a simple thing: sitting on the little bench in my bathroom and reaching to the back of the medicine drawer for the bottle. But I had trouble finding it and pulled harder on the drawer, which fell out and knocked me onto the floor, hitting my arm on the shower rail and bruising my right foot. I struggled to get up and turn on the light, and then struggled some more to get the rails of the drawer to line up with those inside the opening of the cabinet. I returned to bed for a somewhat fitful night.

Sometime the next morning I heard my I Phone receive a text message and picked it up, but couldn't recognize anything on it - which button to touch, how to read the letters, etc. So I set it back down and went back to sleep. Later I heard the sound of another text, but decided to ignore it. At 1:30 pm (I was still sleeping from the night) my phone rang and I answered it. Heidi was on the other end and I told her I was so confused that I couldn't make sense of anything. I was crying and telling her I was afraid I would never see her again. "Mom, you're not dying!" she emphatically said to me. But what I meant was that I wouldn't recognize her again. I really thought I was losing my mind. It wasn't long after that that my phone rang again. It was Rachel on the other end. She said they were on their drive back to Virginia and had texted me a couple of times but got worried when I didn't answer. I repeated my situation to her.

I don't know which of them called Peder, but it wasn't long after that he arrived at my house. I was awake then and he and I sat down to eat something and talk a bit. During that time my friend Nancy Carlson called and suggested we call my clinic to talk to whomever was on duty, which we did. The nurse recommended we go directly to the ER at my local hospital.

Once there, they took me and Peder to a room to do an ultrasound on my left leg to rule out any blood clots. Then they took me to a room for an MRI of my brain. Following that, I had a couple of chest x-rays. By then, it was about 9 pm so they told Peder he should go home as they were going to keep me overnight for observation.. Once in my room, a doctor came in to say I had no blood clots; the brain MRI looked good; and I had pneumonia. Also, I would be keeping my previously scheduled MRI of my ankle and foot the next morning.

The ankle MRI showed tendinitis on the top of my foot and plantar fasciitis. The latter I have have battled before.

I saw my primary doctor earlier this week and the pneumonia is nearly cleared. I have an appointment with a podiatrist Monday. Yesterday two of my dear friends helped me find my professionally made shoe inserts at the back of my shoe closet. I'm wearing them this morning, and so far—so good!

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