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| My arm with my allergic reaction to vancomycin. |
November 22 (Right before Thanksgiving) - Saw the podiatrist
for the first time. I thought I just had a fungus in my toe nail that wouldn't go away. He gave me an
x-ray to make sure the infection had not gone down to my bone but said it hadn’t. He did an ingrown toe nail surgery on me. I
went to NY for Thanksgiving the next week.
December 27 (Right after Christmas) - Went back to
podiatrist for a follow-up visit and he was worried that the toe still looked
red and hurt me. He did another x-ray, didn’t see anything, so he did an MRI.
December 31 (New Year’s Eve) - Nurse called to tell me there
was infection on the bone and that I had to go see an infectious disease
doctor.
January 7- Saw the infectious disease doctor for the first
time. He told me the treatments for a bone infection were intravenous antibiotics
and that I had to go into the hospital to have a picc line put into my arm.
January 9- Went into the hospital and had a picc line put
into my left arm. After they finished with me at the hospital they sent me
straight to the infectious disease doctor’s nurse to instruct me on how I had
to give myself the vancomycin antibiotic twice a day.
February 4- Three and a half weeks in and three days before
my Vegas trip, I started having an allergic reaction to the vancomycin.
February 5- I woke up with the rash spreading from my chest
to my face. I went to the emergency room and I was transferred to the hospital.
The infectious disease doctor came to see me and thought that I should spend
one night at the hospital and that I’d be better the next day.
February 6- I woke up worse and was transferred that evening
from an observation room to a regular room. I stayed in the hospital until
February 11. They changed my antibiotic from vancomycin to daptomycin.
February 11 (My 50th Birthday) - Went to see the
infectious disease doctor the day I got out of the hospital. He mentioned that he would like to see another
MRI to see how the toe was doing. He sent me back to the podiatrist for this.
February 14 (Valentine’s Day) - Had a second MRI.
February 18 – The podiatrist nurse called me to say that the
infection was worse and they were going to have to cut on the bone. Initially I
didn’t know how much and this made me burst into tears. The doctors both discussed my case and the infectious
disease doctor called me himself the next day and explained that it was just a
tiny bit and that I wouldn’t lose my toe. He said he would keep me on the antibiotics
through my picc line to ensure that I healed.
February 21- Saw the podiatrist and he showed me the MRI and
explained that the infection was at the very tip of my bone. He said he would
just cut that tip off and would take out the infection.
February 27 (Beginning of Lent and I'm not even religious) - Had the surgery and it was successful. The
doctor didn’t have to cut off any more or less. He went in from the top and
left my toe and toenail intact. Thank goodness!
March 3- Saw the infectious disease doctor and he said that he
would most likely take me off the antibiotics on Tuesday, March 10. I may have to take antibiotics orally for a while.
March 6 – Saw the podiatrist who did the surgery and said
the toe was healing well and that my stitches will come out on Friday, March 13. (Right before St. Patrick's Day.)
(Updated afterwards to have my complete timeline somewhere.)
March 10- Miranda's Birthday- Had the picc line taken out.
March 13- The stitches came out of toe.
As you can see, I'm exhausted.
The recurring theme in all of this has been that so many people went on their gut feeling. Nobody insisted that I go see the doctor. It was just suggested. I went on my gut feeling that something wasn't right. The podiatrist went on his gut feeling that the toe didn't look right after five weeks and he decided to do an MRI. The infectious disease doctor went on a gut feeling that he should do a second MRI after I was in the hospital for a week fighting off the allergic reaction.
If you can see a bone infection on an x-ray it's basically too late. It took an MRI to see the infection in my toe. Everything was caught early because of these gut feelings and instead of losing the whole toe, I only lost the tip of the bone. Horrible I know, but not as bad as it could have been. It definitely could have been worse.
I can now see the light at the end of this long tunnel and the light looks bright. I have so much hope for the future and how I'm going to change my lifestyle. More on that later.
The recurring theme in all of this has been that so many people went on their gut feeling. Nobody insisted that I go see the doctor. It was just suggested. I went on my gut feeling that something wasn't right. The podiatrist went on his gut feeling that the toe didn't look right after five weeks and he decided to do an MRI. The infectious disease doctor went on a gut feeling that he should do a second MRI after I was in the hospital for a week fighting off the allergic reaction.
If you can see a bone infection on an x-ray it's basically too late. It took an MRI to see the infection in my toe. Everything was caught early because of these gut feelings and instead of losing the whole toe, I only lost the tip of the bone. Horrible I know, but not as bad as it could have been. It definitely could have been worse.
I can now see the light at the end of this long tunnel and the light looks bright. I have so much hope for the future and how I'm going to change my lifestyle. More on that later.
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