Sunday, August 24, 2014

I Am Exhausted

I'm back home - thank the good Lord! This hospital stay was especially difficult and I was so glad to come home. While no hospital stay is really pleasant, this one was particularly hard on me for a lot of reasons.

I was quarantined the entire time. That meant no leaving my room to walk the halls; it also meant everyone who walked into my room had to have a paper gown on and rubber gloves. Talk about feeling isolated! I had friends and family who wanted to visit, but I told them not to because of the inconvenience of "suiting up". The really stupid thing about this is that it wasn't even necessary! The nurse who admitted me somehow decided I had had MRSA (this is the flesh eating disease) and so , of course, this caused the stir. I said to my infectious disease doctor - "I didn't know I had MRSA!" He said, "You didn't and you don't now." So how this whole thing got started, I'll never know.  Even when we found out that I didn't have it, I was still on quarantine because the nurses didn't really want to take the chance.

I wanted to share with you my little room where I spent 7 long days of my life. Thankfully, my husband was with me most of the time which made it bearable, otherwise, I should have gone mad! Here's the little couch that pulled out into a twin bed for my hubby. Outside the window, I had a wonderful view of the interstate and all the cars!


Here's the white board that drove me crazy! Someone had written on it with permanent marker and so this mess was on there. I sat right in front of this board and allowed it to get to me at times. It was on the door to the bathroom.


Here's the shelf with the TV and underneath was a place to keep clothes and such. Please note the "Call Before You Fall" sign. This ties in nicely with the fact that the same nurse that said I had MRSA also slapped a "Fall Risk" band on my wrist so I had to call for help (despite not needing it) every time I needed to use the restroom. It was very annoying!


This was the view from my chair, too. You can see the board with the names of my nurse and tech on there as well as my room number, etc. Next to it is the computer for the nurses that never worked right.


Then we have the door to the outside world (you have no idea how many times I wanted to run screaming through that door! lol) and the sink and all that for the nurses. That white thing on the top of the door is the holder for the gloves and paper gowns that everyone had to wear. It was on the outside of my door so everyone knew to wear the stuff.


A couple shots of my bed and the IV stand. How do you like all those IV's on there? Lots of stuff going in my veins!



Another shot of the lovely hospital bed...


and finally, the chair where I spent hours and hours. I tried to keep busy by reading and did watch some TV, but sometimes, I would just sit and contemplate my situation. I'm telling you, I'm so thankful that my hubby was there! It would have been horrible being alone that long week!


The update on my situation is that I am doing IV's again. Another week of Vancomyacin plus the wound vac has been removed for now because my doctor thought it might be contributing to my infections. They are putting Gentemyacin in the wounds, plus Aquacel (the silver stuff) and they are hoping it will give some help to my leg. I see my doctor once a week to allow him to monitor me and to check my wounds.

This has been a very long 7 (almost 8) months. I'm so tired of all this and am just praying for complete and quick healing. Without the Lord, I don't know how I could have dealt with all this. Even so, I am exhausted...

Blessings - Julie

3 comments:

  1. What a tour of your "cell"! I am so glad you could read. You keep on reading your Bible and devotionals. I know you have commitment reading too. It will help your time pass. I am praying for you Julie.

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  2. I'm glad that you are home and out of confinement. Continuing to pray for your healing.

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  3. I don't even know how to respond! To say that you have been through the wringer the last 8 months is really not an adequate description. I'm praying for full and complete recovery! May it be so Lord, soon!

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