New Year, New Troubles

Don't think my old problems have disappeared in any way, despite the way-too-long sabbatical I took from writing this blog. I did accomplish writing the novel, completing it four days before the deadline. Yay for me. Of course, I was ignoring practically everything else in my life, not the least of which was my blog. Writing 50,000 words in 30 days was incredibly intense, but it was also invigorating.

The abcess on my back healed, but it took a 3-week course of antibiotics. Still, I consider that a triumph. But then, a few weeks ago, a tiny pimple-like thing sprung up in the middle of a decades-old scar on my abdomen. This had never happened before so I was kind of bemused by it. My new doctor prescribed hot compresses every 6 hours. I was lucky if I got one a day. So not very effective. The little pimple got bigger and bigger and more and more painful until it was huge and I was in constant pain. Still no treatment. Then I went into cold sweats and became utterly listless. At that point the doctor finally prescribed antibiotics.

I decided it was too little too late and decided to go to the hospital to get treatment. By that time, I learned, the "pimple" was filled with a staph infection and had a very deep abcess under it. That was weeks ago. I stayed in the hospital six days getting heavy-duty intravenous antibiotics. I even spent Christmas there. I was extremely unhappy about the situation. The wound, which is a more accurate word for what it has become, seems to be infection-free now, but has in no way healed. Every day a wound care nurse repacks my wound, which, even though they pour lidocaine into it first, is still very painful. The healing process is likely to take several more weeks. That thought makes me most unhappy.

I was re-evaluated by physical therapists and they determined that my legs are too contracted for me to get physical therapy and they suspect my hip joints are "frozen" in place. This means I can't even begin to make any progress towards independence until I have orthopedic surgery. Recovery time for that will probably be months long. And if my hips are involved, then it will most likely be really painful. But, before we can even discuss getting surgery, all my wounds have to be healed. And I'm not even sure I am strong enough to withstand the surgery. They might disqualify me because I'm a diabetic. That would mean I'd never gain any kind of independence.

So I'm feeling pretty glum.

Sorry for the doom-and-gloom attitude. I'll work on that. But paraplegia definitely sucks, so I'm not making any promises.

I sincerely hope  your lives are going well. May 2014 treat you kindly. ❤