Removal of my purple Lego (Portacath Removal)

     Here I sit in the hospital again. Unscheduled. AND I missed school! GRRR!

So my port got infected. Who knows how! It happens to all surgeons eventually, but it hadn't happened to one of my surgeon's patients in so long, she was super disappointed. I tried to reassure her - "Hey, if it's going to happen to someone, it might as well happen to your most positive patient, right?!" I got her to agree, but not cheer up. :( Just to be clear, while blood infections are somewhat common, pocket infections like mine are extremely rare (like 5%), and they don't always know why they occur.

     Anyway, as I had previously posted, my port placement went really, really well. So almost a week later when it started appearing irritated and causing me pain, I was surprised. It just kept getting worse. I saw the plastic surgeon on Tuesday to get my expanders filled - but there was no way they were going near the site of my port with a needle. He took a picture and sent it right over to Dr. T. We were in touch with her office, with a list of symptoms to watch for as I headed home with a prescription for antibiotics. 

     On Thursday I had my Nadir appointment (to check how my body responded to the chemo, it's the low point of my immune system), and Dr. C - my oncologist's partner - examined it and said the same things: we don't know if it's an infection, it sure looks irritated, watch for any sign of fever, etc. 

     I found myself popping more and more pain pills, and getting less and less sleep. By Sunday evening we were pretty certain there was a problem, but since I still wasn't running any fevers, we knew I could wait until Monday morning to contact the Doc. This proved harder (and easier) than I had thought - I could not sleep due to the pain I was in, and finally, FINALLY crashed around 7 in the morning with plans to wake up and call Doctor T's office at 9. 

From Friday night to Monday morning

     I'm so glad that the nurse called and woke me up to check on how I was doing at 9:30! I told her (groggily) that things were definitely worse. She gave me a phone number to text a picture to Dr. T, who was in surgery all day. During class, I received phone calls from both the nurse and the hospital to schedule surgery to remove the port, and by 5:00 we were at the hospital. It turns out it was a good thing I got a late start to my day because I hadn't had lunch, and they were able to put me under anesthesia by 6:00 to remove it. Last night was a bit rough as they pumped me with IV antibiotics and the pain subsided through the night, but I'm feeling a LOT better all ready. Dr. T will come by in a couple of hours to repack my site, and hopefully I'll be home in time for class tonight! I found this really awesome site for more information about these kinds of infections - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK7008/

Notice how much less irritated my
skin is about 20 hours after surgery.

Dr. T. changing my wound dressing. 

    It's been a few more days since I wrote this. We have to re-pack my wound every day, and it hurts! Things have been going a little better, although my body finally let me know it needed some serious rest today. I am going to bed early. I delayed my post so I could add some more pics from the hospital. Thanks to my mom for using a dry-erase marker... I am STILL wearing the lines!

Dr. Tittensor and I sans beauty supplies. She humored me despite a LONG day of surgery. :)

     My brother-in-law came to visit me the morning after my surgery. He works in the hospital, so he stopped in after change of shift. He's been going through some tough times. Poor guy ended up with a lecture from me. I can't help but feel like the conversation was engineered by grand design. So, to Craig - if all of the pain from the infection and surgery were designed so that we could talk: IT WAS WORTH IT. YOU are worth it. Don't give up on yourself. You are stronger than you think, but it has to be YOUR choice. 

     There I go, lecturing again. I just love him, and want him to be happy. Life doesn't always turn out the way we think it will, but there is a point to all of it. Yes, life hurts. Yes, sometimes it feels like we have been betrayed when God takes us on a path that will refine us. Don't lose track of the big picture! Mortality can blind us! I've been promised that if I will read the scriptures, I will be able to see the big picture and keep it in mind. It makes a world of difference in how I handle trials. I pray that Craig will be able to find the healing he so desperately needs. His wounds are deep, but the atonement is deeper. There's a reason Christ is referred to as the master physician.