After surgery…

Well, I went to the Doctor last Tuesday for a check up on my leg. It turned into a rather long stay at the UMC hospital.

The doctor came in and after a short greeting; he instantly asked “How long has the leg been like that?!?” I told him about three days and that I had went to the ER at Grace medical center because of the pain. I told him they used a doppler to tell me that they was a large hematoma in the calf area of my leg. They stated there were no clots as far as they could tell. They gave me more pain meds and sent me home.

My doctor was a little pissed, stating “people lose their legs from things like this and worse if there are clots”. He then proceeded to tell me he was admitting me into the hospital and I would be undergoing an emergency surgery. Things really started moving then.

I was rushed in front of everyone else to get a CT scan, a CT angiogram was canceled because of the rod in my leg messing with the images. I was rushed to have a ultrasound conducted. They found a few clots and the hematoma – and marked it by drawing on my leg with a sharpy.

From there I was rushed to my room to fill out paper work and talk with a few other doctors. Then rushed to the OR for surgery. The anesthesiologist talked to me a bit and I asked her if the needle in her hand held the “good stuff” – she told me that she has been told it was like drinking a 12 pack of beer really fast. I replied “get me a guitar then, because I’ll be up and ready to talk and play after the shot.” I heard some laughing then that was it…

I woke to find a black man praying for me…at first I thought well maybe it did not go so well. He ended his prayer, and I said Amen! I think it made him jump since he as not expecting me to be awake just yet. We talked about the Lord a bit and where we were from. He was originally from Diboll, TX. Funny.

He then took me to my room. Jace was there waiting on me and I settled in. I could not eat anything until 1AM. So, I made sure I was awake until I could eat. I was starving! The nurse brought me plenty to eat. I then settled in for some sleep. Everyone knows that you do not get sleep in a hospital though. They were in my room every hour. Made for a long night.

The next day, the nurses came in to change the dressings. This was the first time for me to see what they had done in surgery. I was a little surprised to learn they had put a tube in my leg for  drainage. I was more surprised to see how big the cut was they made. Wow! I thought cutting my leg was what got me here in the first place.

The next day they removed the tube from my leg. It slung blood all over the room. Pretty graphic, yet intriguing. They wrapped it back up and the doctor ordered the nurses to give me my meds every four hours like clock work…not to ask me or determine for themselves if I needed it.

They hit me with morphine a couple times, which was really nice. LOL and ran antibiotics via IV in me twice a day. A couple days later I was allowed to go home. I stayed a total of 4 1/2 days, and was ready to get home. I had a good nurse and a great doctor at home.

I am doing much better now and have an appointment today at 2:15 with the good doctor. I pray for a good evaluation. Mom and

Daddy came in from Lufkin to help Jace out a bit. George, my father-in-law, had surgery on his neck on Dec. 7th – so Jace was getting a bit run down with work, kids, and two cripples. LOL