The Friday Five…Plus 1

This week I am calling the Friday Five, the Friday Five Plus One. Simply because I cannot fit everything in to just 5 statements. So, here goes!

This week I am focusing on the last two weeks. So much has been happening, that the first two weeks of this month have gone by in a flash. When I am not running around trying to dot all my I’s and cross all my T’s, I am catching a nap or going to bed before nine o’clock on the evening. Here is a quick run down.

1. It all started a month ago when Jack said he needed me to doctor his toe. The big toe on his right foot was quite simply a bloody mess. Since he is an Agent Orange Survivor with Diabetes, I knew it was a big problem, probably before he did. He phoned the Veteran’s Hospital and the race began.
2. He was on antibiotics, but nothing got better. I was the keeper of the toe, changing the dressings and watching it. In reality, I was watching it become more infected and worsen. Looking back, I should have demanded a Vascular Surgeon look at it. Next time…(and yes, there probably will be a next time!)
3. Two weeks later, Jack was not feeling well. We packed a suitcase for him, and headed to the VA in Manchester, to their Emergency Department. They took one look at his toe and off he went, via ambulance, to the White River Junction Veteran’s hospital, where, three days later they removed all of his toe. Thankfully, since Jack has no feeling in his feet, he had no pain. Otherwise, we were told, this would have been an extremely painful operation. They started him on two IV antibiotics, and then waited and hoped that the pathology report would show which bacteria was inside the toe, and also that the bone pathology would show that they got all the infected bone.
4. They sent us home last week on Thursday. At that time they gave Jack a 50/50 chance of not needing more surgery to remove more of the bone. He came home with a slew of medical products for me to use to keep his foot clean, and antibiotics (two of them) in tablet form, to treat both the infection and any possible bone infection he might have left.
5. So, the last week he has had to sit with his foot elevated, and basically do nothing. That is very hard for my husband, who is a very active person. However, I think it’s been a tad easier, because he still has not felt well. I make his meals, clean his wound and then nap and go to bed early, because exhaustion seems to take on a life of it’s own.
6. Now here is your bonus this week. Yesterday, the Nurse Practitioner had the pathology reports on the toe that they removed. She told us that it showed that they had gotten all of the infection with wide margins in the bone.
   They did take a small amount of healthy bone, but this is okay. It means after one month of antibiotics, Jack should be healed.
   He will still need monthly care of his feet, and hopefully, this will keep him from losing any more of his foot. But there is no guarantee.

On a more serious note, I just want to say here and now, that Agent Orange was used so indiscriminately, that so many of our soldiers have been permanently damaged. Seeing the toll it has taken on Jack, I am just appalled! So I say to all the men and women of our military who have fought for our country, God Bless you, and Thank You!