The 2 Big C's of 2020

 

 

March 13, 2020 - a day I won’t soon forget.  I was discharged from the hospital on that day and within an hour the Governor of Idaho shut down all services within the state. 

How does one manage cancer treatment during a pandemic? 

For me, it was as if it were any other day. The Cancer Center is a building separate from the hospital, so we were able to continue regular followups and visits.  

The one thing that I was told upon discharge, was to watch out for pressure wounds.   Because I was so far behind in my blogging, once I was discharged, I sat at my desk for hours on end catching up on emails, writing posts, and trying my best to pretend all was well in my little world.  

But just as my luck would be - I ended up with pressure wounds - on my inner thighs in my sit down area.  I was referred back to my primary care provider for treatment who in turn referred me to wound care - at the hospital. 

There was plenty of stress going on at the hospital due to the pandemic. No one really knew quite how to handle it. The wound care docs decided it best for me to see them once a week, and for Home Health to come to me for dressing changes during the rest of the week. 

During my last visit from Home Health, the wound from lymphedema on my right leg opened up again and I had one my best to wrap it with an Ace bandage for compression.  

I failed to mention earlier that after my initial hospital stay in January, all of my molars cracked. Every single one of them. They didn't hurt at the time, and I was concentrating on radiation treatments. But while I was home working with Home Health, my teeth began to hurt. 

The Home Health nurse informed me that he needed to tell my wound doctor about my leg issue, and also tell my primary care doc about my teeth. 

I was referred back to wound care, but to another doc that deals with things below the knee, and I was instructed to get to the dentist to get my teeth fixed. 

The wound care doc had me coming in to the hospital three times a week for leg wrapping, and then he asked me if I used leg compression pumps. I asked what they were - and he stated that they were the things they put on your legs when you are in the hospital that massage and keep circulation going. I told him I had only experienced that in the hospital, but nothing at home.  Next thing I knew, I was being shipped these wonderful leg massage compression wraps for home use.  They look like hop waders, zip up from the foot to the hip. Plug them in to a machine and it gives the most wonderful lymphatic massage.  I used them right away when they arrived, but the next morning, the day of wound care, I discovered a large ‘bump’ on the front/top of my right foot in the ankle area.  When I got to wound care, everything was painful and swollen.  One quick squeeze, and nasty looking and smelling fluid shot out of the wound.  Doc sent me to imaging because he needed to know how deep the wound was. Thankfully, it hadnt gone too deep into the joint and the following day I was scheduled for debridement under anesthesia.  The wound was full of MRSA.  I was scheduled to come in daily for wound care and very strong antibiotics via infusion. 

It was in the infusion department where I met Sunita. She was this cute little nurse from Nepal, and the only person that could successfully find a vein in my poor arms.  I eventually had a pic line installed, but it was a major struggle finding a good vein until then. 

I managed to get in with a local dentist. I explained what had happened to my teeth, and that I also have a major phobia with dentists. When I was a little girl, I had a habit of biting the inside of my cheeks, and my dentist came toward me with a pair of scissors to trim the now dead part inside of my mouth. I clamped down hard on the dentist’s fingers with my teeth, then tore off the chain and napkin around my neck and got on my bicycle and rode straight home. I hadn’t been to a dentist since and I definitely didn’t want any judgment or lectures on the condition of my teeth.  The dentist took some x rays and scheduled me with an oral surgeon to have three of my molars pulled. Then I had follow up visits for cleaning.  The gal doing the cleaning kept hurting my mouth and she started lecturing me on my teeth. I left that day vowing to never see that dentist again. 

I continued wound care daily and eventually it went slowed down to three times a week and then once a week. 

By now it was early November 2020, and my transportation driver was hung up on the election. I wasn't feeling well and asked her to change the subject or to simply shut up. She was quiet for about 5 minutes and started up again on politics.  By the time I got home, I was so upset and exhausted from dealing with her nonsense that I called all of my doctors and providers and told them I needed to take a break. Up to that moment, I had at least once medical appointment every single week since January, sometimes five appointments a week.  I was mentally spinning out of control and needed this break to get myself back on track mentally and emotionally. I let everyone know that I would not be coming in until January 2021, unless something major came up and then I would come see them. 

Until next time…