Monday, January 18, 2010

Pre surgery...

A week ago Wednesday I went up to Stanford to have a bone scan to see if my wound had reached the bone. Last Thursday I went up to Seton medical center to see Dr. Crew, Seton is supposed to be the best place to be if you have a wound. Dr. crew said that I needed to get flap surgery so I went up today to talk to the surgeon and it looks like I’m going to have flapped surgery on Friday. They cut a teardrop shape piece of skin from your knee to your thigh, work the muscle up over the wound and stitch it closed. They put you on a clinitron bed, a bed that is filled with moving air and sand so you don’t have to change position, for 6-8 weeks. In order to heal the wound like this it would take six months in bed and it will always be a place to open up a really easy.

Canine companions for Independence has agreed to take Robby back while I’m in the hospital. That way they can continue working with him and exercising him and when I get out I will be able to get him back and we can start living a great life. Except for this last week I have only been able to get up for a couple of hours every other day and the entire time was dedicated to exercising and working with Robby, we have become really close and this is going to be very hard.

I had just introduced Robby to the dog around the corner, Bean, and they got along really well. Both are puppies and love to play. On Sunday I have been taking Robby to Bayview elementary school for a play date with my primary care doctors puppy, Bella, and another couple couples puppy that we met over there, Bonnie. They all get along so well and it is He so much fun to watch them play. I am sure that when we come back home we will resume.

Friday, January 1, 2010

Happy New Year...

The wound vacuum starts out with a piece of foam over the wound and a hose that sucks all of the air out of the foam and consequently vacuums and tickles the sides of the wound to keep it stimulated for faster healing.

On Wednesday I went to Stanford to get a bone scan to see if the bone was infected, the wound is now tunneling around the bone. There is absolutely no sign of infection, it is just a precaution. My appointment at Stamford was at 8 AM and as we were leaving at 6:30 AM the wound vacuum started beeping which means somewhere the hose is kinked or being crashed, none of these we can check in the van while I am fully dressed so we just try to ignore it. At 8:00 AM they gave me a shot and decided they were going to take the bone scan three times. After the first time of taking me out of my chair, putting me on the scanning table and then putting it back into my chair they decided that two times would be enough. The other bone scan they were going to do at 1 PM, the whole time the wound vacuum is beeping. By the time we got out of there, got home and got me into bed of course the wound vacuum was working perfectly. I woke up the next morning to the wound vacuum beeping and after calling and trying several things they decided to send out a visiting nurse that afternoon. The nurse replaced the dressing and everything worked perfectly. I’m going to Seton Hospital to see their wound care specialists, they are supposed to be the best in this area, and then I will know for sure how often and how long I will be able to beat up in my chair. My biggest concern is Robby, all of the time I am up in my chair is devoted to exercise and working with Robby and I just hope that it’s enough.

On Sunday I’m going to take Robby to meet Bela, my primary care doctors dog. They got her last Christmas and she is one year old. She is a bundle of energy, very friendly and I know will give Robby a good workout, I am so excited about it. I’m going to get a tennis ball launcher so that I can play with Robby but it’s nice to know that he will be able to have a playmate. Hopefully I will remember to take pictures.