thank the goddess for morphine and wireless internet!!!

hello dear readers....i'm lying here at university hospital. had to have surgery today to have my spinal cord stimulation system removed. as you know i was having problems with one of the incisions being infected.

well, it kept getting worse so finally broke down and called the doctor yesterday. he had me go into the office and after seeing my incision he admitted me to the hospital right then.

yesterday, they did a CAT scan where they found an abcess near my spinal column and that the electrodes were infected as well. today i saw the neurosurgeon and the infectious disease docs and they all came to the conclusion that the entire system needed to be removed.

so this afternoon i had surgery to remove the system and thank goodness i did, it was infected badly and all the way down into the battery pack. they said i was very lucky that i came in yesterday when i did.

so now i have two more incisions in my back with two big drains coming out of them. they'll have to stay in for awhile even after i go home as will the IV antibiotics. they said a home health care nurse will come to the house to help me with them.

so this whole surgery mess has been a nightmare. but i'm glad the stim is out and i'm free of hardware! my hubby has been absolutely wonderful to me the past two days. what a darlin'!

he's already planned on taking the next two weeks off work on vacation so he can be with me. awwww. and thank goodness for morphine IV's and the fact the hospital has wireless internet!

i have my laptop and a stack of dvd's as well as cable tv here and my mp3 player so guess i'll be well entertained. what did patients do before all these luxuries?

i'm hoping to get out of the hospital by tuesday or so, so anyone that had jewelry questions i'll make sure to get you the information then once i'm home if that's okay! so sorry for the delay.

so now it's back to square one with my pain management. they spoke to me today about implanting a pain pump but i really don't want to go with anymore surgical implants...i just don't seem to do well with them.

so, it looks like we will try to manage the pain with meds, probably going back on oxycontin. it worked miracles for me before and i actually got my life back the year i was on it. went back to work ... started yoga again etc. but decided i didn't want to spend my life on narcotics which is why i gave the spinal cord stim a chance.

at this point tho, it seems meds are my best option. i'm hoping once i'm healed i can start up my yoga and some meditation and relaxation and maybe ease off some on my meds dosage. trying not to worry too far in advance.

so...i'll be checking in next couple of days! take care!

~zen 8 little birdies chirped