The Demise of the DRAIN...FINALLY...
Before they got me up to my room the Cardiology resident came in to see me...for the record he will be an amazing doctor!!! He came in and said they were 99.7% sure what my heart problem was all about. He asked me some interesting and random questions then told me there was a mild medication I could start on but that we could work all the way up to an "up thru your vein" procedure (ablation) if it got that bad. In my head I am thinking....another risk of infection....not if I can help it so the medication sounded really good to me. He wanted to consult with his boss and would be back. He came back an hour later with his boss who told me the same thing but just to be on the safe side...considering all the krap I was already dealing with they wanted to go one step higher to their boss...so they would be back in a while. I got moved up to my room and sadly it was kind of like "old home week" cause everyone remembered me and kept coming in to say "HI"....they are such a great bunch of nurses and housekeeping staff. ID (infectious disease) came and checked in on my swelling and Physio came in to say HI and then Cardio came back....with the "BIG/BUCK STOPS HERE" Heart Institute doctor. He just cracked me up soooo bad.....he is sooooo my kind of doctor. He starts by saying it was NOT a heart attack that in fact, my heart is beautiful and in excellent condition & that this event from last night, though a pain in the butt & freaky for everyone around me, would actually do no harm. I was just born with an extra circuit in my heart that randomly fires and throws my heart out of rhythm. He said it is sooo rare to actually catch one of these that they were ecstatic I had 3hrs worth of data for them, which also meant the diagnosis was really easy. It would not trigger a heart attack or a stroke or even make me pass out and it would do no damage to my heart...it literally was just gonna be a pain in the butt to deal with. He said that the fact that I had been having mini (seconds long) episodes my whole life...if it was him, he would have the ablation and be done with them. He said Cardiologist are "general contractors" the "electricians" do the ablations so after all this infection stuff was done he would refer me off to them. I told my big sister about it and unbeknownst to me...my niece has the exact same condition and has already done her ablation...so talking to her made me feel a WHOLE lot better!!! Thanks Miss J....you inspire me!!! So all in all...a very fortuitous time for my drain to not work so I was at the hospital....there are no coincidences in my book...this is the 2nd time in 50+ days that if one thing hadn't been done we wouldn't have found the other more important issue. It becomes more evident to me every single day that WE DO NOT RUN THIS SHOW!!! The Lord very carefully watches over us and moves us in and out of things that in the end, are for our own growth and learning.....all according to His plan....but the guardian angels (cause it would take more then one for sure) must be getting just pooped by now!!! LOL!!!
Now back to the blasted drain.....it never really worked. Before I left the hospital they did another ultrasound to check its location in the abscess and discovered that the majority of fluid was gone but that it was so tangled with cob webbed/ honeycombed little pockets that a drain would have a hard time actually being effective anyway. I did discover a new spot where it had come thru my chest wall cause it couldn't drain but it has closed itself back up soon after I went home. 3 days later I had a follow up with my surgeon and she just took it out. Here we are a week later and it still leaks a bit but is managed by a small dressing. My lymphatic massage therapist is stopping by tonight to do some manual draining...I cam hardly wait!!! I feel soooo much better just having the drain gone...it is way better on my psyche after all we were hooked at the chest for 5 weeks!!!! Now it is just me and Petunia PICC and as it turns out we are gonna be LONG TIME friends by the time this is all over.
I think I have successfully gotten you all caught up in what will be THE Summer to remember....or forget. Thank heaven for great medical care and some fantastic doctors and equally awesome nurses that have tried to make this as easy as possible for me.....
Miss M...you are my HERO...
I can never thank you enough for all you have done & continue to do for me...
YOU TRULY ROCK!!!
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