Back surgery

And the hits keep coming.
The IV levels had stabilized, raised it 2/3 times. Scheduled termination of IVs is 5/10.
While visiting our daughter yesterday she wanted me to check her back, felt wet like it was leaking but didn't know it was just sweating. Upon inspection, it's leaking clear fluid from the incision area.

After stiches were removed last week there was a small scab about size of pencil eraser. It was whitish like the eschar tissue from the internal scaring. Grabbed some tweezers to debride the wound and a little plug came out. Has a hollow cavity behind it, best description I have is like a tooth abscess.

Sent pics to nurse and due to our distance from dr office they are going to set up daily wound care to pack the wound. Should be interesting since no idea how large the cavity is yet, looked 1/2 deep from what I could see.

Her back feels great, she's just getting frustrated about the wound not healing.

Hopefully they get it right and in the near future all will be better.

In the last 24 hrs the fluid discharge has slowed quite a bit and the hole has noticeably reduced in size. She's wondering if it was full of fluid from all the IVs, kind of like a blister. All those IVs are a lot of fluid for the body to process every day.

IV's will do that. When I had an incision for my intestine infection, the amount of fluid that came out soaked 6x6 inch gauze pads and I had to change them 4 times a day for a month. finally stopped by the scar it left limits what I can pick up without tearing it and causing more scaring.

She is going to be referred to a local wound care clinic so they can asses the situation.
Home nurse roughly measured 1 cm deep, 1.4 cm above opening and 3 cm below so it's a couple inches long. Nurse is concerned there could be a opening going deeper that we can't see, that I agree with.

Thinking an MRI will be in order to get a good cross section to accurately map it out.

It's never easy, is it?

Jeez! If there's ever a survey I'd be sure to voice my displeasure with that surgical outcome. Normally surgical groups are very responsive and some surgeons will even give you their cell #.

When the doctor took out 10" of my large intestine, after a 7 day hospital stay he gave me his cell # when I got discharged. He said he would rather take a 2 minute phone call than to have a patient at home wondering if what was going on was normal.

Wound care at clinic put on hold since not covered by insurance due to how it's billed in TN.
Home nurse willing to handle wound care if it's not too deep and would be covered by insurance done at home. So tomorrow calling drs office to request an MRI.

Good luck and keeping you in my prayers.

IV pic line out, meds working their way out of her system, feeling much better. Go to wound care 1x/week and home nurse stops by 1x and I have to change packing material 1x/week. No signs of infection and appears to slowly be healing up inside.

Good news for a change.

That is good news,

Good deal

Tomorrow morning nurse comes by, don't expect any issues.

Someday when she's healed up I can consider getting worked on.

Culture results from latest wound care visit show staff infection.

She just can't catch a break.

MRSA is tough especially on weakened immune systems. Sounds like she might be colonized. They say about half of us are walking around healthy with many staph sites on our skin.

Staff infections can be very difficult to get rid of. My father had it for a while after he had back surgery. Good luck to the both of you.

Dan, Hope this post finds your wife doing better and that you're holding up ok as well .... it's been a long haul for the both of you.

After a few days on "horse pills" she is feeling better.
Dr isn't too concerned at this point, hopefully it'll go smoothly.

Good to hear that she is doing better. At this point in life I don't take my health for granted and I doubt you or the mrs. does either.

That is good news. It can seem like forever when you have health problems that keep you from living a normal life.

Latest appointment from wound care, healing has slowed/halted.
They are recommending seeing a plastic surgeon to re-open and re-seal wound. Next week off to surgeon, he had mentioned this before.

Oh jeez, not again! How is your wife holding up with this latest news? Prayers to the both of you.

Doesn't want to be put under again but really want this to finally heal up.

I know, it a pain that you just want to end.

She seen her surgeon today and they are setting up an appointment with a plastic surgeon from the hospital.

I had the fun of falling down a short flight of stairs at work. Caught myself with my free arm on the stair rail and spun around. MRI shows tear in the cartilage of the shoulder socket. Waiting to schedule appointment with Ortho surgeon to find out more details, that's in a nutshell from plant dr reading the MRI report. Plus side is rotator cuff looks fine.

Somebody signed off on a new machine with stair treads only 9.5" deep made of plain old steel diamond plate. Not only is it slippery AF with oily boots they are under OSHA spec 12" +/-2". Stairs are so easy to make with pre-made non-skid tread material it took more effort to bend these up than just using the right material. Funny thing is the other end of the platform has proper stairs!

When it rains it pours. Sounds like a workman's comp case to me. As a past safety coordinator I have spoken with OSHA several. They are so overwhelmed that they normally only will show up on a job site is because of death or serious violations that have been reported.

So far it is being treated as a work comp claim, haven't heard the adjusters view on the case yet.
Wed get to see orthopedic and review data.

They always try to rush you back to work to keep their premiums down.

No missed time yet.
If surgery is required that will change.