Another Lousy Bump in the Road

I'm in the hospital again. It's not a good thing when you know most of the nurses by name because you've been to the hospital so much. That's the story of my life right now, though. 

This all started on Thursday. I had the chills and a fever of almost 103 so I called my nurse who said to get to the ER now. I was taken back right away and then told almost immediately that I would be admitted. Then they called my infectious disease doctor who said he wanted me brought to his hospital, 2 hours away. Unfortunately, there wasn't a bed available for me so I had to wait until the next day, late in the afternoon, to be taken by ambulance to this hospital. This has been really a strange sickness and I still have no answers as of right now. I'm being pumped full of antibiotics, having tons of blood drawn and just waiting for Monday to come around when my doctor will be here. 

Please keep me in prayer...for the doctors to have wisdom and my leg to be protected. Thank you so much, dear friends. This is another horrible bump on this horrendous journey I've been on for over 7 months! 

Blessings - Julie 

Roller Coaster Ride of Life

I've been riding that roller coaster of life for the past few weeks. The scariest part came last Friday when I went to see my vascular surgeon (who did the bypass in my leg) and my infectious disease doctor. Let me back up in my story, though, so you know what's been going on.

About a week and a half ago, my two in home nurses were here. The wound care nurse pulled my bandage off my knee, with my injection nurse watching, and they both said, "Uh-oh" in unison. This is something you never, ever want to hear from your caregiver. There was puss in the knee wound and a new hole had formed. My nurse took a culture and sent it to both my wound care doctor and my infectious disease doctor. We had a preliminary result on that Friday, but the infectious disease doctor wanted to grow it out. When I went to my wound care center, he was not concerned about it and didn't put me on anything. My infectious disease doctor decided he wanted to wait and see the wound when I saw him on Friday. I really wasn't worried as no one else seemed to be.

Back to my appointment....so the vascular doctor looked at everything, pronounced it looking good and moved on. I had to wait for my infectious disease doctor who did not pronounce it all good and made some ominous suppositions. The hole in my knee is about the size of a q-tip end and tunnels about 3-4cm. After looking at my culture, my infectious disease doctor put me back on the IV meds (2 different kinds, including Vancomyacin) and then proceeded to scare the living daylights out of me when he said, "We need to make sure that this infection hasn't gotten into the knee joint hardware." I asked him what that would mean if it did and he said, "You would have to have this knee joint taken out and a new one put in." The room went quiet and then I started crying. My doctors just stood there while I cried as they just didn't know what to say.  I composed myself and the doctor got an MRI arranged that afternoon with the sister hospital to the one I went to. That was a small miracle because my insurance approved it over the phone and they had an opening for me to do the MRI. I had to lie on the table for over one hour as they did a huge section of my leg to check for infection. I was amazed that I was able to lie there without my back killing me. That was truly God helping me! I wasn't sure I was going to be able to get up...but I finally did!

I am asking for prayer, dear friends. Please pray that there is no infection in the hardware. I'll be honest - I just am so exhausted by all this and the thought of another surgery sends me into panic mode and just despair. I am praying fervently that my knee replacement is fine and that these IV meds will take care of whatever there is in the tissue. I'm asking you to agree with me in prayer on this.

I talked with my sister last week about all this and was in tears as I was telling her. She said to me, "Julie, God and satan are in battle over you." That stopped me cold as I never thought about that at all. She said it was like Job and how the Lord allowed satan to test Job to prove that Job would be faithful no matter what. She said I was the same way and that satan was trying to break me down. I will not allow him to break me down and nothing - nothing - will make me ever lose my faith in my true Lord, Jesus, or to turn away from Him. Without Him, I am nothing! I love Him too much and He is my everything!

I thank you for your prayers, your sweet comments and your love! They truly have sustained me through these last few difficult months. You are all so special to me and I thank God for you!

Blessings - Julie

Asking for Prayer

Dear Friends:

I have another infection in my leg. I went to my pain management doctor yesterday and she said, "You look horrible"! I've known her forever, so she can speak to me this way without me taking offense and I'm so glad she did. I told her I was really weak and that I was really cold. She said, "It's really hot in here - and you look flushed". She quickly took my temperature which was 99.8. This really concerned her because I take Vicodin for my pain and it has Tylenol in it which can mask how high my fever really is. She instructed me to get to my Primary Care Doctor immediately. Thankfully, I was able to get in and by the time I got there, my temperature was nearly 102. They gave me a shot of antibiotics and some antibiotic pills. She looked at my leg where there's a puffy place and she said, "I think there's an infection under there." It's next to that horrid wound I have that is where they did the bypass. I was so sick most of the night - my son put a cool wash cloth on my head and the other son put the fan on me. My sweet husband was up most of the night sitting by the bed holding my hand. When I finally went to sleep, he would check on me during the night. He finally got to sleep at 4 am and then got up at 7 am. Poor guy. Everyone was checking my temperature with the idea that if it went up, we were going to the emergency room. Thankfully, by morning it was down to normal but my leg is bright red and I'm so exhausted.

Please pray that the Lord would heal this infection quickly and that my leg would be fine. Please pray for wisdom for the doctors and that these wounds would heal. Thank you so much....I am SO very grateful for you all!

Blessings - Julie

Praising God Even When You Don't Feel Like It

Let's be honest. Sometimes, it's easier to praise the Lord than at other times. Personally, I love  and trust Jesus so much, I don't often have those times. However, I DO have times where I am questioning God as to why things are happening the way they are. I'm having a bit of that right now as I have a new issue with my leg. The incisions are infected...especially the one for the bypass. The bypass that should have never been. 

I went to my surgeon on Friday because I could tell it was getting really yucky and my leg was hot. He looked at it, put me on Bactrim, and gave me some cream to put on it. He acts like he just doesn't know what to do. He hems and haws around and, frankly, I have no confidence in him. Then his nurse had the audacity to say that the bypass incision was not something he had done. Seriously? If not for his neglect, I wouldn't have had to have a bypass! I also questioned to myself why he thought Bactrim was the drug to choose for this. It's a fine antibiotic but it's not exactly a strong one and it barely cures my bladder infections when I rarely get them. I usually have to do two rounds of it because it's not a strong drug.

Anyway, over the weekend, I could tell I wasn't getting any better so this morning, I went to my regular doctors office where I saw the wonderful doctor I used to have, who caught my cancer when no one else could figure out what was wrong with me. He works in this office and sees walk-ins and doesn't maintain a regular set of patients now. He remembered me and then he took a look at the incisions. He was very concerned. He said, "I'm sure they did a culture at the other office when you went in last Friday so I don't need to do that." Ummmm...no...they didn't do any kind of culture. So he cultured it, gave me a super strong shot of antibiotics, added Keflex to my Bactrim and he wants to see me tomorrow. If it's not a lot better, he is hospitalizing me.  I know I'm being a big baby, but I do not want to go back to the hospital. I said when I left after 13 days in there, that I never wanted to darken their doorstep again. However, and this is the most important part, God is in control! He knows what needs to happen and He truly has had His hand on me through all this. I mean, what are the chances of me seeing my most favorite doctor, ever, who saved my life once before? Only God can orchestrate these things. I also know I don't want this infection to get so out of hand that I have a new problem, so I will do whatever I have to do...and God will be there with me...holding my hand all the way.

Not only will I trust in God - in Jesus - I will be praising His holy name!

Please keep me I your prayers, if you're so inclined, and ask for God's perfect will in all this. For His healing touch and His strength for me to handle whatever comes.

Blessings - Julie