Starting again

I've decided that about once a month, I'm going to declare that I'm ready together back to the gym and then I'll show up for a couple of days and then I'll find another reason to not go for a few weeks. This way everyone will be impressed with my resolve but I won't actually have to exercise. I'm thinking about getting bird flu or swine flu for my next excuse. In the mean time, it was good to get back to the gym even though I was hindered in what I could do with my stylish fanny pack IV.

This is one of the first times that I was thankful for having this IV in me as the rest of the class had to run the hill outside of the gym. My main goal was to get my muscles moving again after basically laying around for a couple of weeks. So all I did was 3 rounds of riding the Airdyne for 10 minutes at an easy pace and then 25 sit ups. Afterwards, my leg was swollen and hurting again so I had to go home and elevate it but it was at least good to get things moving again. I will have this IV line in for at least another week so I'm going to have to create some workouts that I can do that won't rip it out of my arm. I'm thinking it will incorporate a lot of foam rolling and PVC pipe overhead stretching.

4-28-2012 Me and my cool Fanny Pack

I had decided when I created this blog, that I would try to post daily so that I could keep track of my progress. I have missed a couple of days now but I haven't a whole lot the past couple of weeks.
An update on my leg.  They finally figured out that it was a Strep infection in my leg and not a Staph infection.  So they released me from the hospital on Monday but they have left my Picc line in and given me a IVs of Penicillin and a portable pump that I keep in a fanny pack and have to wear basically all of the time for the next 10 days.  (It's a good thing that fanny packs are really stylish, huh.)  I went and saw a disease specialist yesterday in Salt Lake and she had me describe what happened.  When I was done, she said, that's a classic case of Cellulitis caused by Strep.  She explained that Strep will give you flu like symptoms and spread rapidly whereas Staph stays more in one general spot and create boils.  That was very interesting to learn but I wish my doctors would have known this so that they could have treated me with the right antibiotics 2 weeks ago.  She also said, "I bet you have dry feet that with some cracks in the toes don't you".  We looked and I do and she said that's where I picked up the infection.  It's all still so bizarre how quickly it happened.  It's basically a fluke that I got it and not very common.  Lucky me.
The swelling in my leg has gone down a lot.  It's still a little swollen and red but I the pain is considerably less.  One of the things that I said that it felt like was the worst sunburn I've ever had.  Well, it's starting to peel like the worst sunburn ever.  She told me that I can start to go back to work again and to the gym but to try to keep the leg elevated whenever possible.  That's kind of tough to do at work or at the gym.  I asked her if I disconnect the IV drip while I was at the gym and she said no.  I asked her if I should just do the bikes and she said she wants me to do both aerobic mixed with anaerobic exercises to get the muscles going again and blood pumping again because I've been basically laying around for the past two weeks.  She also said to make sure to stretch.  Basically, what she was explaining to me was that she wants me to do Crossfit.  I just can't get away from it can I.
I guess it begins again.  This time I'll be doing some of the basic Crossfit routines with light weight and that darn bike again with an IV hanging out of my arm.  She just said to be careful that I don't get the line snagged.  Holy crap, that would hurt.  So, I've seen some pregnant ladies still going and thought that was crazy but great.  So I will now get to join the crazies again.  So, if you see someone in the gym that looks like they just escaped from a hospital, the doctor actually told me to do it.  I wish I would have kept a hospital gown.

Starting to get back to normal size

My cool portable IV pump

Katie with her sling and me with my portable IV bag.  We make an awesome couple

I was finally released today and look forward to sleeping at home.  When I first was hospitalized I thought at least I would be able to get a good nights rest this way. Unfortunately, the first night they came in almost every hour to change IVs, get vitals, draw blood, etc. Add that to the pain and I think I maybe got two hours of sleep the first night.

The following night, I was so tired, I thought I would sleep very well. I tried to sleep but I was so tired I think I was a little on the delirious side.  They left the fluorescent lights on in my room. All of them had burnt out except one bulb and I was so tired but I started thinking about horror shows in the hospital with the one light bulb and the psycho surgeon and then I was afraid to go to sleep.  I finally, quit thinking about those horror movies and was able to fall a sleep.  Then around midnight, my door opened and there was an old man in a hospital gown looking at me and he had BLOOD on his gown.  This sounds like I'm making this up but it seriously happened.  After he stared at me he closed my door and left.  I definitely was not falling back a sleep after that.  Maybe I was just delirious and was letting my mind wander but I didn't know what to do.  So I looked over at the door to make sure everything was fine, and there was blood on the freakin floor by my door!  What kind of psycho hospital did I check myself into?  I was waiting for a clown to pop out of the closet at any moment.  Well a couple of minutes later a nurse looked in and apologized because the man next door to me was a little delusional and wasn't sure where he was at and was looking for a restroom even though he had a catheter in him.  A janitor then opened my door and apologized and said he just needed to clean up the blood on my floor.  I told him he might want to check my bed because I was pretty sure I had just messed my pants.  He laughed and left.  I could hear the old man and the nurses trying to get him back into bed for quite a while after that.  I finally had to turn on the tv and sleep with the sound on just so that it would drown out what was going on in the hallway.  Needless to say, I'm hoping to get some good rest tonight.

The infection on my leg has gone down a little and it's no longer purple but it's still painful as heck.  I have to keep it elevated as much as possible for the next week so I probably won't be playing any racquetball this week.  But I am home, so that's a step in the right direction.

The 1 working light in my room.

Hospital

I think I've said this before but this has become the worst Diet or Crossfit blog on the face of the earth. Yesterday I went back into the Dr. because my foot had not gotten any better. Actually it was starting to turn purple. I drove because Katie still couldn't drive. They decided that the I should go back to the hospital. This time they wanted me to stay overnight so that they could monitor the infection. They have now decided that I still have Cellulitis but from Strep instead of Staph. I think this happened so that I will quit complaining about being stuck at home. At least there, I have more channels and people aren't waking me every two hours to draw my blood. So Katie now is at home with the two kids and one arm. We are now at the end of my vacation and sick pay maybe I should learn a job that can be done from home. This all should hopefully be only a slight setback. The bad news is that my insurance covers Ogden Regional Hospital instead of McKay Dee and the food is much better at McKay Dee and they also make shakes. The good news is, I probably won't gain weight here. I'm hoping to be released by Monday. We'll see what happens.

So it's now been a week since my "Get in Shape" plan took a whacky turn. Currently, I'm in my " Keep my Leg and my Foot" plan that I wasn't really planning on being a part of. It's still hard to explain how it feels. When I'm laying down with my leg propped up, it feels like I have a very bad sunburn. I can write words on my leg with my finger. When I do stand and all of the blood goes down, I feel like it's crushing my shin, and I'm not sure why. It makes showers very painful. I also have to wrap my arm in cling wrap and tape it so the bandage doesn't get wet.

It's funny when people come by to visit because they aren't used to having a 7 year old non verbal autistic kid in the house. The best have been when we're in the basement and you can see Adams legs come over the railing and poke down to where you can see them and he'll pull himself back up again and his legs will disappear. Most visitors will gasp and try to stop him from hurting himself whereas we're all used to it and have given up trying to stop him because we might actually make him fall. Yesterday the bishop was over checking on me and Adam went upstairs and got some grapes from the fridge. I guess he decided that he didn't want them so he started throwing them over the ledge. They kept coming until Katie ran up and stopped him. Once again, we're used to strange things happening but I don't think he was expecting it. As the bishop left Adam pulled down one of our blinds. I'm wondering if we've scared him away. Other than that, my leg is still just as swollen and it's going to be a long time before I think I'm going back to work. Still very bizarre as to how this is all happening.

Does one leg look redder than the other?

4-18-2012

One of the great things about living in our neighborhood is that when someone needs help, you get a lot of it. As soon as people found out about my leg,we had cookies, brownies, and meals set up for us. We finally told them to maybe bring some meals every other day just so that we would have room in our fridge for the next round. This is great, if I wasn't trying to eat right. I could definitely not do a paleo diet since it's usually Lasagnas, potato casseroles,lots of carbs, etc. Until, I'm back in the gym and making my own food, the best thing for me to do is portion control. The one good thing about my leg hurting, is that I'm not able to go upstairs very much because it feels like my leg is breaking with each step. This means that I'm not just snacking every time I walk past the fridge.
I went to the Dr for my check up and my leg and foot were extremely swollen still. So the dr ordered another 5 days of antibiotic IVs. The only problem is that my current IV line wasn't meant for more than 4 or 5 days so they had to remove it and install a PICC line into my arm. Basically what that does is runs a small tube through a vein in your arm all the way to your heart. Although it was not horrible, I'd prefer not to do that again. I may have mentioned this is a very frustrating infection because I don't feel sick and want to be elsewhere but I can't leave and I'm extremely bored. I have a follow up with the Dr on Monday and I'll get an idea when I'll be done with this nasty bacteria.

One great thing about Adam, is, he doesn't care how you are feeling or who you are, if you are in his seat, he will go ahead and sit there anyway.

4-17-12

(Lame Note: One of my friends texted me yesterday and asked why she needed to log in to make comments. I said that I didn't know that it was locked but it didn't matter because she was the only one that was reading my injury/ sickness blog. She told me to shut up and open it up for comments. So I think I figured it out. There you go J, if you put Viagra ads in there, you're in trouble. )


Today was my 4th IV of antibiotics.  and I don't really see any improvement.  The swelling is so bad in my lower leg that pictures of it really do look like a pigs leg.  I get to go in tomorrow and have the doctor take a look and decide if I still need the IV's.  I'm going to say 99% chance, yes.  So I don't know when I'll be able to get back to normal life again. 

It's not all bad though, I have learned some great lessons though.  For instance, today on The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, that guy that plays Urkel, from Family Matters, was a celebrity guest star.  He played Ashley's boyfriend.  In this episode he was leaving for college and was trying to talk her into losing her virginity to him.  Will found out about it and tried to talk her out of it but then finally realized that Ashley was no longer a little girl that needed his protection.  She was grown up and whatever decision she made, would be the right one.  Well luckily, she made the right choice and didn't lose her virginity and I'm guessing it's because she realized that she was dating Urkel.  I'm glad she realized that before it was too late.

Other than that, I keep trying to get up and move around a little but every time I do, all of the blood rushes down to my already gargantuan leg and feels like it's touching every nerve in my lower leg and crushing bones along with it.  It's very bizarre to be where I'm at in less than a week, but it's looking like it's going to be that way for a while.  When I do sit, it's often in the Lazy Boy chair which is also Adam's favorite chair.  He doesn't mind that I'm there because he sits wherever he wants whether you're there or not.  So he'll often plop himself right on my leg.  But I playing around with him so I guess it's a "Good Pain".

Somehow hoping all of the swelling goes down before the Dr's appointment tomorrow and I can go to work.  Not counting on it though.

Old man Scot, with his IV, watching his daily "Stories"