Bad leg treatment begins

Last night I actually managed to sleep a bit better; I had two 3 hour sessions between diarrhoea attacks.

This morning, Rose came nice and early, and then another bone doctor came to see me. We discussed various options, but they decided that I should have a drain put in to try and drain off the puss in the abscess. This is done by a radiologist using ultrasound to determine the place to put the drain.

At 11:00 they took me down, and a very nice doctor explained that he would use local anaesthetic to insert the drain, but of course it does not work on the abscess! So, whilst inserting the tube, it will hurt.

It was very painful, for longer than I would have liked. There is a risk that the puss is too thick, and it won't drain, but the radiologist was very upbeat and said it looked to be draining well. I was back in my room at 12:00, with a smiling Rose to greet me.

The trouble is, it was not really draining. A little bit had drained out which gave the radiologist his optimism I guess, but we could see no movement back in the room. And my leg was uncomfortable, and now I have the drain attached I am bedridden again. All in all it seemed like a step backwards.

My nurse could also see nothing was happening, so I asked her to call the bone doctor, who recommended a backwash of saline, in case there was a blockage. The nurse duly performed this, with much trepidation on my side, as I was worried it would hurt squirting saline into the abscess. But it turned out to be OK. However, nothing was draining still. Another call to the bone doctor who suggested another backwash, with a little more saline. This time, the nurse thinks it is draining; I am sceptical, but at least we have managed to get my leg to a bearable level of comfort, which is a great improvement.

They will (by protocol) leave the drain for 24 hours. The next step is surgery, if the puss does not drain. So, realistically things will stay as they are until tomorrow, and then if nothing much has drained I will hopefully be on the list for surgery on Monday.

I am almost frightened to blog it, but the diarrhoea does seem to be abating. I have my fingers crossed. It means a lot because now I have to use a bed pan, and it is not very dignified.

I now face a somewhat uncertain night, but I am in better spirits than I was earlier today. If the diarrhoea is not too bad, and if I can my leg comfortable, things might just be OK.

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