June 10, 2009
My Infection Saga Ends Happily
Posted by booklady under UncategorizedI’ve written enough about about my journey on the infection route that I’ve been on since January. I’ve been sick six of the seven months since my ATR surgery.
I’m at a loss for words.
This is my PICC line, my lifeline to health for 8 weeks — all 45 centimeters of it — that began in my inner arm and ended near my heart. It needed a strong artery to withstand the drugs, otherwise, I would have had to have a catheter change at least every other day. 
My wound — it’s not pretty, but it gets me there. I wonder when the discoloration will fade back to my normal skin tone.
My kind doctor reminds me that it has endured a major surgical trauma — twice.
Every day, my ankle reminds me that it is alive. The prickly pins and needles at bedtime signal strength and healing. 
I could just jump for joy — on the inside for now, anyway!
June 10th, 2009 at 8:45 pm
booklady - Congrats on getting through the infection and staying vigilant with the treatment and recovery.
I am sure your story will help and support someone else who may be going through an infection from a surgery. Glad that you can actually do toes raises, and let us know how your recovery progresses!
June 11th, 2009 at 9:15 am
Hi Dennis! Thanks for the continued encouragement. It really was a lot of hard work to keep up with the treatments and having the opportunity to report on it was very helpful. I’m sure that there will be more to share. Now on to those dreaded stretches . . . .
~booklady
June 11th, 2009 at 3:14 pm
What happened and should I be concerned about discoloration?
June 23rd, 2009 at 8:24 pm
YEAH! My spam word was ComeBack…how appropriate! So glad that your infection is gone and that you are getting better each day! YEAH! My wound scar thing still looks awful and it’s been 1 yr and 2 mths…we’ll get there. Congrats on overcoming this major obstacle! Enjoy the summer!!
June 25th, 2009 at 10:16 am
nil055 — thanks for visiting my site — it’s been a long ordeal, and you may read up on my adventures under my HOME link. Basically, my wound did not heal well after my surgery and had a series of infections which had me on very aggressive antibiotic therapy — to the point where I wore a PICC line for two months to battle the bacteria intravenously. I would not wish this on anyone.
The discoloration, thankfully, is fading, even in the two weeks since my last post. I bruise easily and recover slowly, so this discoloration is pretty normal for me. A paint can fell on my foot once and it took about a year and a half for the bruise to fade.
@kristinatl — thanks for the encouragement!! Your closed wound is beautiful in my eyes because you’re able to do the activities you are doing!! I’m on vacation now — cruising Alaskan ports, Dog Mushing School in Denali, Pike’s Market in Seattle and cherry picking today in Portland. The ankle is doing well and holding up despite all the activity.
We really are getting there . . .
~booklady
July 28th, 2009 at 6:55 am
LOVE tha HAavianas Booklady. I am dying to get back into my Aussie flag ones…
Good to see you up and about, you really have been in the wars with your achilles. Bloody awe-inspiring!