Jim Continues on the Path

Oy, it’s been a few days.  I have to tell you, this surgery is not for the faint of heart, it hurts.  Our first phone call to the surgeon’s medical assistant for more oxycodone was not encouraging.  So, we cut back on dosages to make the supply we had last a little longer.  That was not a good outcome.  Jim has been suffering like an animal for a couple of days.

Then the contact allergic dermatitis at the surgical site kept getting worse. When he came home, there were some lines of agitated skin from the bandages they used.  We quit using them, but the dermatitis kept getting worse.  This morning we went in to see the surgeon.  I was watching his face when Jim pulled up his shirt.  He was somewhat shocked.  They put vancomycin in the incision to prevent infections.  It could be a response to that, it could be from one of the many things they put on his skin to kill any bacteria.  The mystery is why does it continue to get worse now that he’s home.

That’s the incision, which is healing nicely, and that’s the allergic response in red.  It’s a terrible burning itch and it’s swollen.  It’s a three inch incision.



It’s good we went.  They’ve put him on a low dose of Prednisone for seven days.  We also got more narcotics which I am very happy about, as well as cortisone cream to smear on the dermatitis.

Jim’s been on narcotics every four hours, tylenol every 6 hours and a muscle relaxant every 8 hours.  I have spent a lot of time counting on my fingers to figure out which pills are due when.  If you find yourself in this position, may I recommend the humble white board as an organizational tool?



In other news, we have these tidbits from the internet.  This is a water spout photographed somewhere in Texas, courtesy of Hurricane Harvey.



This is from Twitter.  I can’t remember the rider’s name. Does it not appear to you that he is about to hit the deck?  It was during one of the stages of the Vuelta a Espana.



So that’s what’s happening here.