In the Hospital, Part 1

Infection:

I was one sick puppy when I arrived at the emergency room. While the normal range of white blood cells tops out at about 10,500; anything over 18,000 is considered life threatening.  My whites cell count was over 20,000.  The doctors told my wife that if we had delayed another hour or two, that I would have died from the massive infection now in my bloodstream.  I was also severely dehydrated.  The doctors immediately began pushing IV antibiotics and fluids.  

it took two days of constant major league IV antibiotics before I was finally out of immediate danger of death.   A surgeon came in and examined me and explained to me what had happened. Last year when I thought I got arthritis, what had actually happened was the bones in the arch of my foot broke and collapsed.  He was amazed that I was still walking on the foot after a year and a half.  I chalk it up to an apparently high threshold for pain, a stubborn streak that runs deep within me, and not being too bright :-) 

The open wound that we thought we were beating was from the strep infection.  While we made progress on the outside, it had decided to go inward.  It attacked the soft tissue and bones in my foot.  That is why the foot swelled up overnight.  We had lost the fight with the infection and it was breaking free.  I probably had that infection for some time and that explains why I was sick on and off so much in the fall.  We could knock it back but never eradicate it.  

On Saturday, November 30th, I ended up having my foot debrided to remove the infected and dead flesh and tissue.  This was done to help my body fight the infection so I could go to surgery.  My wife said that there wasn't much left of my foot in the area of my arch.  She said it kind of looked like a Zombie's foot only worse.  I didn't want to see my foot like that and refused to look.  I wanted to have a good picture and memories in my mind of what it looked like.  She wanted to take a picture of it after the surgery, but I refused to let her.  I didn't EVER want to see it like that.

Bandaged up, it didn't look too bad.  On the morning of my amputation surgery, I was looking at my foot thinking what a good run we had had together.  I was going to miss my foot. When amputation was first mentioned, I sucked air and that word spun around in my head for a moment.  But I quickly told the surgeon, "Let's do it.  Amputate it."  He explained because of the position of the infection towards the rear of the arch that saving any of the foot and having bone and tissue for weight bearing was not going to happen.  He said that many people will struggle for a year or so trying to save the foot, but in his experience, they all will end up amputating the foot in the end.  I had already spent 1 1/2 years in pain with the foot.  It was obvious that attempting to save it was a fool's hope.  I didn't want to waste another year--I wanted to begin the healing process.  I asked my wife if she agreed and she said, "Take it."

 My surgery was scheduled for the early afternoon.  That morning, I asked my wife to give me a marker off of the white board and I drew a smiley face on my big toe.  I realized that although we were going our separate ways that my foot had been good to me over our 56 years together and we were separating as friends..  I told people that I decided to send my foot on to Jesus while I stayed behind here on earth.  I playfully announced that by sending my foot on ahead that "I would have one foot in the door to heaven."

Amputation:  

On Tuesday, December 3, 2013 my left leg was amputated below the knee.  The doctor said that my blood flow, bones and muscles were excellent above the ankle.  Surgery lasted about 90 minutes.  My leg was amputated just below the calf which they said was the perfect spot for a prosthetic.  Very quickly after the surgery, my white cell count dropped within the normal range.  When I first woke up in recovery, I looked down at my bed and wondered why someone had left a duffle bag on my bed.  I was a little miffed that someone would do that.  It wasn't until my mind cleared a bit that I figured out that it wasn't a duffle bag, that was my leg in a brace.  

I had never had surgery before, so everything was a bit new, unnerving and scary.  I did find out that general anesthetic wires me a bit.  My family and friends gathered in my room after recovery say I was VERY entertaining.  I was sort of like the rapid-fire talking squirrel on caffeine in "Hoodwinked".  Click the link to watch it.  Hoodwinked video clip