Long road still ahead
Today I had my follow up appointment. The hope was that I would be scheduled for the major fix everything surgery this week and be on the road to a full recovery soon. But that is not the case. I was told the drainage thing needs to be in place for 3 months to get all the infection out before they can address the root cause. I asked if there was anything that can be done to speed things up, but they said that it is a very complicated thing to deal with, even for the best doctor. So, no.
When they examined me, they discovered another abscess has formed. The assistant surgeon who was examining me said that they could try antibiotics to treat the new abscess and then see if that worked. If not, then they would do another examination under anesthesia to fix it and find out what caused it. I told her that in the past with this issue, every time doctors tried the antibiotics first, they never worked and I ended up having surgery anyways. So I asked if she could just skip a step and do the surgery to correct the abscess right away. She said ok, but that it would be her doing the surgery, not the main surgeon who did my last procedure because he won't be available for a month with all the traveling he is going to be doing starting tomorrow. I said, that's ok. I trust her. I asked if there is anything wrong with skipping the antibiotics and going right into the surgery option and if that could cause more harm. She said no. So this Wednesday will be the "examination under anesthesia" surgery to investigate the abscess and deal with it.
Did I make the right call? I don't know. Do I ever learn with how my body dealt with antibiotics before and accept that they have been ineffective? Or do I wish upon a star, ignore how my body reacted in the recent past and give antibiotics one more try? Well, it was a decision I had to make on the spot and I decided to use the lessons from my body and go right into another surgery.... the 5th time I will be cut into in that area within a year.
Soooooo, how do I feel about this? Ultra frustrated. Not only is this ordeal not ending anytime soon, but the pain is real and hurts so very much in a very uncomfortable area. Another surgery Wednesday, plus another one... hopefully the big one in 6 weeks. Then another period of recovery. FUN! Not to mention a likely follow up to this next surgery and probably at least 1-2 more follow up visits following the big surgery.
Anyways, I posted a beautiful song by Hillary Scott that relates very much to what I am going through. It is also appropriate to the feast day today the Feast of the Annunciation.
I don't know why I have to go through all of this and why it never seems to end for me. But ultimately it's "Thy will be done". As hard as it is, by putting it in God's hands, the burden gets a lot lighter and more bearable.
Thank you everyone for your prayers. I'll keep you posted with how the next surgery goes Wednesday.
When they examined me, they discovered another abscess has formed. The assistant surgeon who was examining me said that they could try antibiotics to treat the new abscess and then see if that worked. If not, then they would do another examination under anesthesia to fix it and find out what caused it. I told her that in the past with this issue, every time doctors tried the antibiotics first, they never worked and I ended up having surgery anyways. So I asked if she could just skip a step and do the surgery to correct the abscess right away. She said ok, but that it would be her doing the surgery, not the main surgeon who did my last procedure because he won't be available for a month with all the traveling he is going to be doing starting tomorrow. I said, that's ok. I trust her. I asked if there is anything wrong with skipping the antibiotics and going right into the surgery option and if that could cause more harm. She said no. So this Wednesday will be the "examination under anesthesia" surgery to investigate the abscess and deal with it.
Did I make the right call? I don't know. Do I ever learn with how my body dealt with antibiotics before and accept that they have been ineffective? Or do I wish upon a star, ignore how my body reacted in the recent past and give antibiotics one more try? Well, it was a decision I had to make on the spot and I decided to use the lessons from my body and go right into another surgery.... the 5th time I will be cut into in that area within a year.
Soooooo, how do I feel about this? Ultra frustrated. Not only is this ordeal not ending anytime soon, but the pain is real and hurts so very much in a very uncomfortable area. Another surgery Wednesday, plus another one... hopefully the big one in 6 weeks. Then another period of recovery. FUN! Not to mention a likely follow up to this next surgery and probably at least 1-2 more follow up visits following the big surgery.
Anyways, I posted a beautiful song by Hillary Scott that relates very much to what I am going through. It is also appropriate to the feast day today the Feast of the Annunciation.
I don't know why I have to go through all of this and why it never seems to end for me. But ultimately it's "Thy will be done". As hard as it is, by putting it in God's hands, the burden gets a lot lighter and more bearable.
Thank you everyone for your prayers. I'll keep you posted with how the next surgery goes Wednesday.
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