Monday, October 1, 2007

So, last night was Chris' first experience packing my neck wound. It went ok, barring the fact that he was extremely timid and afraid to hurt me (no surprise there). But I think he did well. I still worry we arent doing it exactly right, but what else can we do- I cant sit in the hospital for the next few months just to have them do it for me. My doctor is trying to get an at home nurse to come change my neck wound but that would be hard because its twice a day, and my insurance might not cover it.

I also gave myself my first IV treatment without the nurse last night at 10 pm. It went well, and it is really easy. The Zosyn comes in these little vaccum packed balls that look like grenades, so you dont even neeed an IV stand. I can hold it in my hand or put it in my pocket and walk around while I am doing it which is nice. First, I have to take the medicine out 1 hour before to warm it up. Then, I swab the end of my groshong with an alcohol swab, then take a syringe filled with saline solution and get the air out of it by pulling back on the syringe as far as it will go, and then pushing up until one bubble pops out of the tip. Then, I screw it on to the groshong and squeeze about 1/2 inch, then release, then squeeze 1/2 inch, then release until the whole syringe of saline has gone in. That clears the line out, I guess. Then I undo that, swab again with an alcohol pad, and attach the end of the medicine ball to my groshong and flip the release button that lets the medicine flow in. It takes about an hour and 20 minutes to all go in which takes forever but its ok because I only have to do it every 8 hours (6 am, 2 pm and 10 pm). It sounds complicated but its really simple. I hope this gets rid of the infection quickly but still this morning there was a lot of discharge coming out of my neck. There is a worry that because my immune system is basically freaking out that my neck wound is healing faster than it should and there wont be room for the stuff to come out if it closes up entirely before the infection is cleared and then I would have to have it cut again, which I do not want to have. So in a way its like a race to clear up the infection before the wound shuts. Worst race I ever went to.

So thats that today. Still no more pain which is great. I was in so much pain before I went in to the hospital and its nice to not feel that anymore. Oh and the swelling looks the same today- not too bad but not great either.

Here's a picture of my 'Zosyn ball.' The things they come up with these days! I thought I was going to have to wheel around an IV stand or pump or something but its so simple. It basically deflates so when its all done you can see the core of it. Crazy.

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1 comment:

Aesox said...

Does it sound weird that the Zosyn thing looks kinda cool! You sound better, and that's so great to see!! It's a testament to how far you've come that having gone through all these complications, you seem to still be really resillient. I'm so glad that things are stabalizing now and thank goodness that the pain is better!!