Thursday, February 12, 2009

Medical stuff...

No news re the Bump. Sigh. She is taking her time. I am not good at waiting. Not good at all.

I think I lost my mind yesterday. For some bizarre reason, I decided that yesterday was a good day to wash the lounge curtains. And no, there was no bright sun or breeze to dry them in at all. I soaked them, then washed them, then ironed them wet to get the creases out and then discovered that they were still too wet to hang up last night, so I went to bed at 9.30 instead of sitting in the lounge with no curtains.

See. I live an exciting life. Tonight they are up in place. Damp. But up.

And today.... it has been a long day.

I went to physio this morning, and I can tell you that missing one and a half sessions is not good. I noticed the drop in ability immediately. Did I mention that I had to stop the last session when I nearly passed out? That was not good. I am fine, but now I need to catch up. Not for the next 24 hours though.

WARNING: This post speaks of blood, but there was never actually any visible blood, so skip the rest if you are queasy at the thought!

My friends Jackie and Jean and I went off to the hospital this afternoon for my visit to the pain clinic. I thought he was going to just check the meds. Hmmm. Right he said...I am doing the IVG (Intravenous Guanethidine regional block) this afternoon. Huh?? He actually had spoken about this last time, but I must have missed the fact that he was going to do it today. That mind, the lost one, remember.... Anyway, he gave us another copy of the leaflet telling me about it all, and then inserted a canula into my foot. I nearly drew blood. My nails almost went through my hands. I don't talk about the leg much any more, but just know that it hurts. All the time. Even with the meds. And the nurse had her hands tight round my calf. Just perfect.

So then, the best nurse in the universe popped in and told me what happened next. Basically, they strapped this tourniquet, with automatic pump to my thigh. You have no idea how many straps that thing had. They measured my blood pressure, so they could adjust the pump accordingly, and then they pushed the worm up and round my leg, which forced all the blood in the leg up above the tourniquet. Then they inflated the tourniquet and whipped the worm off. Bingo. A bloodless leg. We were inordinately fascinated by it. She called a junior nurse to view my bloodless leg too. I was an exhibit. Good thing my friends and I were just as fascinated at the time.

The worm, by the way is a sort of rubber tube with water or air inside it, and they force it over the toes and 2 of them force it up the leg, and it is so tight, it pushes the blood out of the leg. I told her to practice an evil cackle, because I am SO going to video that next week. (Yes, I have to have this done next week and the one after too.)

Anyway, where was I.....right. The bloodless leg. They then inject a local anaesthetic and the guanethidine into the leg and it circulates through the empty veins and into the tissue for 20 mins. And your leg looks dead. She told us that this is what a dead leg looks like. I needed to know what my leg would look like when it is dead. Purple/blue/bright red. Stunning. I took pictures, but you do not want to see them.

And we sat there drinking tea/coffee and eating biscuits, and watching the leg change colour. It was spectacular. Believe me, I needed the distraction. The tourniquet was unbelivably painful. My friends made me laugh, though, and I do believe we may have been a little rowdy. But it worked. I was distracted. Then the buzzer goes off, and I had to lie down as she deflated the tourniquet. You are supposed to have appalling pins and needles, but I felt nothing, and then the leg, all of a sudden looked normal again. This treatment is supposed to temporarily interrupt the sympathetic nerve supply to the leg. I suppose it is supposed to try to stop it and then jump start it so it may work properly.

Well, if it works, I can cope with anything. Even 2 more of these in the next 2 weeks. They strapped the ankle for support so I could walk properly and off we went. And into yet another blizzard.

So here I am at home, very weak and very tired, which is expected, and I can't do anything or drive for the next 24 hours.

And it is my daughter's birthday tomorrow. Only tomorrow is already here for her, and she is starting her birthday. I spoke to her this evening, and she is fine and happy. I cannot believe that she is 28 already. Well, she will be tomorrow. Today. It is confusing. She was born on Friday 13th, and so it is an incredibly happy and joyful day for us, and this year, her birthday falls on Friday too. Maybe the Bump will come on her Auntie's birthday??? Who knows. And that brings me neatly round in a circle, to where I started.

The end.

18 comments:

Pam said...

Oh, Linds, I had to speed-read that post (not good with blood) but it sounded awful. Poor you.

Happy Birthday, Diana! and come on, Bump.

Susie said...

That sounded like some type of evil torture! It's a sheer wonder you didn't just pass out!
Glad it's done, and over at least for another week..
Are you going to be there when your little granddaughter is born? (can't remember if you wrote about this or not)
It's a miracle for sure..
Happy Birthday to your daughter :)
xo

Chris said...

"THE leg???" What happened to "MY leg???"

I see we're falling off the wagon a bit here. Remember, with or without blood, blue or purple, white or red, it's still YOUR leg, God love it.

And I AM glad to see they're doing something proactive re: the pain. I do so hope it works!

P.S. See Twitter for my comment re: the Bump.

Linds said...

I stand corrected! I said "the" more than I should have but I also said "my" quite a lot too!

My leg is now exhausted and needing sleep!

PS..... Thanks, Chris, for the reminder.I will do better next time!

Laurie in Ca. said...

I agree with Chris,Your Leg, lets own it because you are doing all of this painful stuff to make it better. The procedure sounds fastinating (except for the pain). I hope it works girl. I am praying for the Bump to get here. I hope they don't let her go far over her due date. I worry about cord issues. I wasn't patient for my two grandkids to arrive either and was kinda climbing the walls (silently).
Take care and rest sweet friend and you will be back in the swing of things soon enough. I am praying for you right along side of our sweet Kelli.

Love and Hugs, Laurie

Dawn said...

Yikes! I could hardly stand to read the description of this torture. Bless your heart!!

Well, your daughter and my son share their birthdays - but Kev was 4 the day she was born. So Valentine's Day has always taken second place to his celebration.

I never had to wait impatiently for the grands to be born - Hayley was 3 weeks early, Olivia was born on her due date, and of course, the twins were 7 weeks early. I think she is waiting for the weather to clear up before she makes her appearance! Doesn't want to leave that cozy place she is living right now!

Vee said...

Thank you for the warning, which I did not heed, but should have. Oh my...I felt the earth move beneath my feet. Guess my daughter's squeamies come from me. =}

Your friends are lifesavers and I hope that they'll all be with you again next time and the next.

That grand-girlie is going to show up soon. Are we taking guesses yet? I think Monday, February 16 sounds good. Has your daughter-in-law been on a cleaning binge yet? When you see that happen, you'll know.

Needled Mom said...

That was a very intersting sounding proceedure. It does sound dreadfully painful and not one that I would care to repeat for the next two times. Yikes!

I keep hoping to see news of the baby but I know that I am not as excited as you must be to have her here.

Another snow storm???? What is happening there?

Have a good weekend.

Diane@Diane's Place said...

I'm not squeamish at all, and I have to say I've never heard of that particular treatment before now. Strange indeed. I hope it works and does the trick for you.

Still no Bump, eh? I hated the waiting when it was me and when my daughter was ready to pop. No patience here either.

Happy Birthday to Diana! :o)

Happy Friday and weekend to you there in the snowy depths of England.

Love and hugs,

Diane

Donnetta said...

I would have loved to have been there during this process!

However, I may not have been the best person to have along as a friend because I'm afraid I would have been all caught up in the nursey, medical side of it.

Unless, of course, you really needed me there as the friend. Then I would have completely blocked out that fabulously interesting process taking place! :-)

I'm curious to hear if it works for you!...

Sandra said...

Oh wow Linds...that sounds like a very interesting procedure but good grief....

And I'm also eagerly waiting news on the little one :)

Hugs,
Sandra

Crystal said...

Happy Birthday, Diana!! Don't you just wish you could give her a hug, bake her a cake and spend the day together?!! Sigh - - -

Your day sounds exhausting!! Who would ever have thought a year ago that this is the place you'd be at today. Thank you, Lord, for medical techniques and expertise to help Linds get through this.

Take care! Maybe a Valentine's baby is in your future :))

Mary said...

OUCH!

EEKS!


OOH!

MY OH MY!

FAR OUT!

OUCH! (worthy of a second call out - for sure).

Just as well you didn't know the procedure was going to happen - think of all that saved anticipated nervousness!!!!

Hope you get some rest.

Eagerly awaiting announcement re - bump.

Happy Birthday Diana.

Judith said...

Linds, Hope the Bump decides to arrive soon. The waiting can feel a little bit like doing some laboring yoursellf.

Glad you warned us the procedure would be so graphic. Must make you appreciate your faithful friends even more.

I so hope what the're doing to your leg helps. If nothing else, to ease the pain.

Do you know if that procedure has been done enough to show how well it works? I'm going back to your post about this, to get that halfmile long medical term, to try finding more information about it.

In the meantime, I am praying for you, for I understand how trying these long hauls can be.

Olson Family said...

Fascinating and a bit disturbing. Do we really want to know what our body parts look like dead? But in the interest of healing... :)

Janine said...

Ye gods, are they going to bring out the leeches next? I've never heard of this treatment before and it's one that I hope I never have to have. Still, if it makes your leg better then it'll be worth all the unpleasantness. And hurrah for friends.

Anonymous said...

I hope and pray that your health improves and you have procedures which aren't painful!

At A Hen's Pace said...

I've gotten really behind with my friends' blogs between theater rehearsals and productions and birthdays!!

But I love your new look and the photos of your kids in the sidebar! (Can't wait for the Bump to make her appearance so you can post her pic there too!)

I was fascinated to read about this procedure! Never heard of anything like it before. I pray that it makes your leg feel like a million bucks! Er...pounds. (But that could sound WRONG....)

:)

Jeanne