Three weeks pass. I'm feeling better, and am able to get out and drive myself for the first time since the liver surgery. Dr. V orders a CT to check the fluid has/is clear. The results are not good. The fluid has returned, and needs to be drained. An additional two weeks of IV antibiotics.
Just as I start to feel better, this infection knocks me back down. And sure enough by the weekend I'm feeling the pain again.
By this point I'm an old friend with all the nurses at the outpatient center, I walk in and one of the nurses sees me and gives me a hug. (50 points!) Today my nurse is Cletus (Janice...she has lots of names).
Cletus was with me when the first drain was placed, so she knows how much pain I went through. And the same doctor for the procedure, so based on the previous pain he picks a different route for the catheter. No under boob this time!
It is much easier going in blind not knowing the pain you're about to experience. Once you know, nerves and anxiety take over. Cletus held my hand the entire procedure, and anytime I started to squeeze her hand she pushed a little more sedative. Thankfully going through my back was much less painful than the under boob. Shocking, I know.
The drain is left in place, and I get to go home with a bag wrapped around my leg. It's painful to move, but I can walk upright vs hunched over with the under boob drain. Small blessings. But the drain makes me miserable. I feel good, but it's too painful to get out and live, and I know once it's removed I can live again.
I spend the next two weeks at home in bed only getting out for our weekly IV supply run. The drain is clear, but week two the abscess fluid returns. Before the drain was place, we had planned a get together with my dad's family. I was desperately hoping the drain would be pulled & I could enjoy that time pain free. But no, the infection wins again.
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