A change to the blog + latest medical development...

     I’ve decided that I’m going to expand this blog to include things that come to my mind now and again.  These will include blogs about current events, political issues, people I’ve known, (both those who have inspired me and those whose conduct is less than inspiring, (to put a polite edge on it,) as well as whatever else may pop into my wee brain.

     I’ll continue to use this as a way of keeping a record of how things go for me health wise, but since the initial battery of tests and meetings with doctors is over, things go pretty slow on a day to day basis.  Here’s a brief update on my health situation though, since I did get some info today…

     I spoke with Dr. “P” yesterday, (Sunday,) afternoon, and he said that, after going down to talk with the specialists about the MRI, CT, and PET scans, the infection has indeed invaded the left side of my pelvis pretty extensively and, (as he put it,) “if you were a family member, I wouldn’t advise against a hemipelvectomy.”  That’s pretty much as close as he’s going to get to saying that he thinks I should get it done since he’s not my primary doctor anymore.  (Gotta be careful about the politics in the VA, you know…)

     One “second opinion” down, and at least one, maybe two more to go.  I’m supposed to call N.M. Orthopeadics later today to see if their major joint specialist will give me a consult, and now that I know which doctor at UNMH does hemipelvectomies, I’ll be calling there as well to see if he’ll give me a consult on this.

     I was going to wait until I had a second series of scans done in another month or so, (six weeks after the scans taken when I was admitted,) to see how aggressively this infection is moving, if the antibiotics are putting it in check, and then make a decision, but if I these other outside ortho surgeons say it should be done as well, I may be making that decision sooner.

     One thing I do know is that the pus that’s found it’s way out through that little hole on my high upper thigh hasn’t lessened at all.  When I asked Dr. “E”, (my primary doc,) how long it should take to start seeing a difference, he said about a week.  On Friday, I mentioned that things weren’t getting better, (and in fact, the area around the site of leakage is looking worse,) he said three weeks.  (That’s kind of typical for the VA, so it’s not all that surprising.)

     What is improving is the sedimentation rate from my blood draws has improved.  Basically, this is a test that measures how quickly the red blood cells settle to the bottom of a test tube over the course of one hour.  When there’s inflammation, infection, (both of which apply in my case,) cancer, or some autoimmune problem, (which don’t apply in my case,) the liver produces proteins that make the red blood cells stickier, and they clump together and sink at a faster rate.  So this is a good sign, but not the only sign of what’s going on.

     Right now, they’re changing the wick and dressing on the spot in my groin twice a day and most of the time, and most times when they take the wick out, it immediately drains a fair amount of pus.  I’ll be asking my doctor to have the nurses get a culture of this next time it happens to send to the lab and confirm that the infection is only a staph infection and doesn’t have something else mixed in with it, since I know I’m MRSA positive, carry an antibiotic resistant strain of acinitobacter, and several other nasty little buggies that make the VA staff dress up in gowns and gloves anytime they have to do anything with me.  (All this stuff even got me a private room last time I was in, but not so this time…)

     Dr. “P” said he’ll be back in a couple of weeks and check in with me again, so that makes me feel better with the advice I’m getting.  It amounts to a free “second opinion” for me that I know I can trust on an ongoing basis, so you can’t beat that.

     So there’s the latest…  Nothing world shaking, but still a bit more information for me to use while I make my decision about this surgery.

Dave