A December to Remember

The month of December arrived as I continued to recuperate from my sinus infection. The previously scheduled surgery on my foot was postponed until I finished taking the full course of antibiotics. The new date for surgery was the 10th. I convinced myself that I was well enough to proceed with the surgery (I really wasn't) while George told me to reschedule it again.

I had a method to that madness of proceeding with the surgery, because one year ago I had booked a week in Key West at Blue Water Key Resort and I needed a 15-week recuperation window. The week delay was now cutting into my timeline.

The surgery went well. I left the hospital the same day with a plate, two brackets and six screws in my foot, as well a a pin in my second toe that had needed to be broken and reset. I was placed on the same, strong antibiotic that I had taken for the sinus infection, and was given a powerful drug for pain. Now, all I had to do was sit back and let my bones mend. It was one of my more painful surgeries.

Good friends had lent me a wheelchair, but entering the RV was a tremendous challenge. One that caused me to almost re-break the broken toe! Neighbors far and wide heard my scream. Weeks later, a woman came up to me while I was sitting outside and she said, "Oh, you're the poor woman who screamed." I guess stuff like that gets around fast in a small community.

Life was spent in the RV being cared for - expertly - by George. There was very little I could do without his assistance, and he was always patient and caring. I counted my blessings (along with the days we would be swimming in Key West). 

About ten days later, I visited my surgeon who sent me to the ER with a note, indicating I was exhibiting signs of a DVT - deep vein thrombosis, including chest pain and difficulty breathing. The night before, I actually considered calling for an ambulance due to how badly I felt.

My original diagnosis in the ER was a lot of fluid in and around my lungs. I heard doctors saying, "congestive heart failure," "possible heart attack" and "thrombosis." I remember not feeling panic at this point, just a feeling that I wanted to go to sleep and wake up from a bad dream. I was weak, tired and in pain. 

On Christmas Eve, after about a week at Celebration Hospital, I was discharge after having a total cardiac work up. Gratefully, all my tests came back negative. The only explanation for all that fluid was that it probably developed from the original congestion of the sinus infection and made worse by the anesthesia from the surgery. 

Okay, this issue is behind us now and it's time to go home...but, getting released posed a huge problem. Part of my cardiac workup included an angiogram that was performed through my wrist. This prevented me from being able to hoist myself up the stairs into the RV.

Prior to being discharged, my mind raced with options and fortunately, I remembered that our friends owned a house nearby and had a spare room. After a quick call, we found out there was "room at the inn" on Christmas Eve for all of us, including Lucy. As it turned out, we had their whole home to ourselves since they were out of town. To make things even easier, we had a key to their home. 

Throughout the entire medical issue, I hadn't cried once, however, as George wheeled me into their home, tears of gratitude slid down my cheeks. I was overwhelmed by the situation and the bag full of new medications we had just picked up from the pharmacy, but also feeling so blessed to have friends who moved a huge obstacle out of our way.

Someone thought this was a
special chair just for her.

Christmas Day was going to be a relaxing and quiet day.

It wasn't.

I'll skip the unpleasant details, but I ended up heading back to Celebration Hospital by ambulance. This visit was a six day stint consisting of a battery of tests for gastric issues. The cause of this new problem was due to all the antibiotics and additional pain medications that I had been ingesting since the end of November.  It wreaked a bit of havoc on my insides.

We ended 2019 with hope and prayers that 2020 was going to be a terrific year. After all we had been through, how could it get any worse?

Meanwhile, as we were hoping and praying, Wuhan, China was to become a place that would go down in history as the epicenter of "COVID-19." Not until March 11th was it officially labeled "a pandemic" and people started to pay attention. Unfortunately, it would take thousands of deaths before most people started to take  it seriously.

My next blog entry will document, at least for my future reference, what it is like living in 2020 with a compromised immune system during a pandemic.

Deep thought for the day: "Good morning, good morning! It's time to celebrate! Good morning, good morning to you!"

This song's music was composed by Nacio Herb Brown and lyrics written by Arthur Freed, for the 1939 film, Babes in Arms. It was performed by Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney.

This is the song I sang to my boys as they grew up and now, I sing it to my husband. All three hate/hated it, or perhaps just my rendition. I'm not sure which, but I do know that I loved and still love singing it, because it's always a "good morning" when we wake up, have a place to live, clothes to wear, food to eat and love to give and receive... So, good morning, good morning to you! ~ vc