Thanks
to what I would call a “completely random occurrence”, we've had a crazy
couple of days. Last Tuesday, we were at
the dog park in San Mateo when Leslie felt a mild prick on her left foot.
Nothing as startling as a bee sting, but it was a feeling she remembered. By 11:00 p.m. that night, her left foot was
on fire and incredibly painful.
We
went to the emergency room at Mills Peninsula in Millbrae the next day because Leslie’s
pain wasn’t going away, and we’ve had good experiences there. Unfortunately, due to the nursing strike, it
was more like a three ring circus. The
wait wasn’t long, but the nurses and attendants seemed disconnected. Nobody
knew what was going on. They were all
convinced Leslie sprained her ankle and kept asking her what she did to it as
though she were a 90 year old. Their
patronization was infuriating. They
should’ve canned the small talk completely. A stiff and un-emotional red-headed
nurse announced she was going to put Leslie’s foot in a wrap, and considering Leslie
couldn’t bear even a sock, that didn’t seem right. Turns out the nurse got
Leslie confused with another patient. The
ER doctor had no answers for us despite having the foot x-rayed, and I think the
not knowing was more concerning than anything else. So, after two different nurses tried to give
Leslie the same pills, we left the emergency room shaking our heads, with a
prescription for pain medicine, and instructions to see a doctor in the next
day or so.
And
that we did.
Friday
afternoon we went to see an orthopedic doctor, who reviewed Leslie’s x-ray
prior to the appointment. Despite having
a lousy bedside manner (here we go again), he was very detailed oriented. He diagnosed Leslie as having cellulitis,
trauma to the cells, caused by antibiotic resistant bacteria that crawled into
her foot after whatever bug bit her.
Leslie had been taking Augmentin for a recent round of bronchitis, and
it’s a good thing she was. Who knows what that bacteria would’ve done to her
foot had nothing retarded its progress.
We
left the doctor’s office with prescriptions for two separate antibiotics,
instructions to go to the emergency room at Seton should Leslie’s condition worsen,
and an appointment for Monday.
Apparently,
a bacteria like this, referred to as an MSSA, is not resistant to certain drugs. If it was, it would be the worst kind of
infection, called an MRSA and Leslie would probably be in the hospital already hooked
up to IV antibiotics and fluids. An MSSA
is bacteria found in the community. There is a long list of how and where a
person can get it, but as far as we’re concerned, it’s something people with
pets can get, and it gets into the body through broken skin. I’m convinced Leslie picked it up at the dog park
in San Mateo when we were there on Tuesday.
Leslie
is still in a lot of pain, particularly at night. And she has to keep the foot elevated
over her heart or it swells quickly, and that hurts even more. No one in the house is sleeping well because
it seems to hurt more at night. And as
you might know, taking a lot of antibiotics reeks havoc with the stomach and
other sensitive parts of the human body.
I think more than anything, Leslie is tired of sitting around. She wants to go the market and do other
domestic things, the stuff you don’t appreciate until you can’t do it.
I’m
being Florence Nightingale, taking care of Leslie, cooking for everybody, doing
laundry, and tidying up. There are a
million other things I wanted to do before my surgery, but they’ve taken a back
burner. I’m worried about my the timing
of my surgery, too. It’s just a little over a week away, and Leslie’s healing
process can take up to 10 days.
This
will be a close one.
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