And yet another trip to the ER.

     I’m writing this blog not only to keep you informed of what is happening, but to also let you know that there are times when a caregiver can become a caree which effects the care I provide my caree, my mom.  With me being a caregiver to two people, my mom and my brother in-law as well as being a caree, when I am hit with major back pain, inadvertently given a 40 cc overdose of Fentynal or put into the ER because three different doctors thought I had obtained a blood clot during my recent hospital stay it effects the care I am able to provide those that rely on me and yes you read the title to this blog correct, I am starting October off with another trip to the ER.  Between myself and Robert (Brother In-Law who lives with us due to his epilepsy) in September we had ten days admitted to the hospital and another six where we had appointments.  Now on the last day of September at around 10:35 pm I reach down to scratch what I thought was a bug bite and suddenly felt something running down my leg, when I looked it was blood and there was also a 6″-8″ stream of blood projecting from near my ankle, not dripping, projecting.  After several times of trying direct pressure to stop the bleeding with no success we did as the nurses did when I was in and waded up some (2″ x 2″) gauze and they tightly tapped it down which did the trick.  We then propped my leg up about 8″ to get it above the heart and went to bed.

     When we woke up and went to change the bandage, we need to take a damp washcloth and let it sit on the gauze for a few minutes to moisten the dried blood and then removed it.  I then lightly tapped around the cut area and on the first touch the gusher started again.  We re-tapped it, and called the after hours advice nurse, since it was only 4:15 am.  She said everything we were doing was perfect and that I needed to contact the appointment desk at 6 am and request an appointment for that day, which I did.  I was able to get in with my general practitioner (GP).  When I arrived the first thing he noticed was the size of my legs (another story, somewhat) and then looked at the gusher which is my ankle.  What happened was, when I was scratching the swelling in my legs had pushed a capillary vein to the surface and my skin was so thin that I scratched into it causing the spray.  He put in the order for the nurse to use a magnesium stick to singe the blood vein cauterizing it and sealing the cut, he also had them wrap my lower legs which will squeeze them and force the excess fluids up and out, there by  reducing the swelling, they hope.  He feels the excess fluids is caused by the nerve and vein damage in my lower back which was caused by the auto accident from 21 years ago, its just taken this long to get to this point.  

WARNING:

     For the squeamish ones in cyberville, this is the point where we give you a few seconds to look away if you don’t like freakish looking legs. 

 

 

 

    The rash, the swelling, my left leg is 2-3/4″ larger in diameter than my right, and the bite marks are all since I was released from the hospital on 9/6/13.  The wrapping consists of a layer of casting material, a layer of 1/8″ foam material, an Ace bandage and then the white netting to hold everything in place.  I will wear this for a week, have it removed and replaced, then repeat from what they said for 3-4 weeks all depending  on how well it works.  So that will make my tentative running total number of trips to a hospital for October to six not including the appointments I will be taking mom to.  As long as it does not match September’s totals, we’re okay.  May everyone have a safe, wonderful October, and a very scary Halloween.   ? : ^{ ) >

 

 

Visit me here or on http://www.Caregiving.com, where a large range of caring, supportive, like minded people share their caregiving experiences and surprising, we all have similar secondary issues even if we don’t have the same primary one.  I look forward to hearing from and reading some of your posts and blogs.

 

 You can reach me by commenting to this post or at either, PickYourPain@att.net or kreisr1@sbcglobal.net.

 

 

Related articles

• Finally a Weekend of Rest (pickyourpain.org)
• September Stitches: ER Edition (am329blog.wordpress.com)