Just another day at the office

My morning started by meeting a veteran at his house to transport him to the hospital to have some bandages changed. We sat in his house as he smoked his last cigarette before walking out to my car. I sat down in the driver's seat and looked over at the passenger door as he opened it. Sadly I had a bird's eye view of his pants fly that was gaping open and he wasn't sporting any under garments. I got quite an eyefull and gently suggested to him that his zip up his pants before getting to the hospital. That is a horrible vision to have engrained in my memory and it will take years of therapy to move beyond it.

My next veteran wanted to go bra shopping. Not a big deal except that the veteran is a man. We went to a store and he said he needed a 46DD. Funny thing since I wouldn't have put him over a B cup...even with the estrogen patches he wears. (He is a bit mixed up sexually and that is the least of his problems.) Anyway, he purchases 4 bras and then tells me that they didn't have his size. I suggested he return them and said I would find him a place where they did have his size. He wasn't going for it and began to escalate. He started yelling at me that I didn't understand and that his testicles were hurting because his bras were all too tight. Then he pulls up his shirt and demands I look at his breast. I figured I had already seen the bottom half of one veteran, what was the difference in seeing the top half of another? Please note that he was not wearing a bra. I looked at his breast to tell him that yes, I did see it and yes, I'm sure it was terrible to be in such pain. After calming him down and helping him bring his groceries to his apartment, he told me that the bra he was wearing was uncomfortable and too small. I clarified that he was meaning the bra he was wearing at that exact moment and he said yes. He must have been meaning his invisible bra... Or he is crazy. I think the latter of the two...

This all happened yesterday but it must be the week of exposure because I had another veteran pull up his shirt to pinch his nipple during a home visit today. He said he was sure he had breast cancer due to a lump he found. I convinced him to 1) call his doctor and 2) put his shirt down.

Just another day at the office...

The Foot...final update

At least we hope it is the final update. Things are better. We met with the doc last Friday and were finally given some good news. He said he thinks Chris' foot will heal on its own without further medical intervention. The top skin of his foot is pretty hard and the doctor said the skin will most likely sluff (how do you spell that darn word?) off on its own. Chris is also noticing that he is lacking feeling in certain parts of his foot when someone touches it but we are guessing that is part of the dead skin thing and nothing to worry about...we hope.

The part of his foot that was black is still black and has now leaked out blood into a thin layer of skin just above the surface. It is kinda neat to push the blood around with your finger. Chris wanted me to take a video of us doing this but a picture of his foot will have to do and you will have to use your imagination. I'm just not that techy.

Chris went back to work for the first time today. He also spent 45 minutes at the gym which was pretty exciting. He is finally off crutches and manages fairly well with his walking boot. He is almost completely off of his pain killers. He is still finishing off his antibiotics but should be done with those soon. All of the prayers, meals, offers to mow the lawn have been wonderful. Thank you to everyone who helped or offered to help. We are very lucky to have you in our lives.

The Foot II (Still PG-13)

Chris and I went to the ortho doc last Thursday which was the last post. The doc decided Chris' foot was getting worse instead of better and scheduled him to go into surgery the next morning and to stay through the night. The surgery went well and the doc removed 100cc's of red gunk. He said the foot had made a sort of cavern to hold the fluid and it was easy to remove and "power wash" the inside.

The big question was what kind of infection Chris might have...staph, MRSA, etc... We were put into a huge hospital room with a negative airflow sign in the door which wasn't very encouraging. We met with the infectious disease doc who said he wouldn't have the cultures back until Monday but put Chris on hefty antibiotics. The night in the hospital was pretty rough as Chris was in a lot of pain and the morphine was no longer doing the trick. We finally made it back home Saturday around 1:00pm and spent the rest of the day (my 30th birthday) relaxing. My parents were in town and were wonderfully helpful as we made the transition from hospital to home.

Chris talked to the infectious disease doc on Monday and we were told that nothing grew. We took that as good news...until today. Today we met with the ortho doc who removed Chris' bandages from surgery. I think we were all surprised with how bad Chris' foot looked. The doc said that he is doubtful there isn't an infection regardless of the cultures done. He explained that since Chris was on antibiotics since the injury two weeks ago, unless the infection was raging, it would prevent any growth in a culture. He said that from looking at Chris' foot, he believes that it could be strep and that Chris will need to continue on the antibiotics. The other concern was a black spot on his foot which the doc said is necrotic. This is a fancy medical word for dead. I heard the words skin graff, plastic surgeon. The doc also talked about having ongoing concerns that Chris might spike a fever from an infection. When the doc had said post surgery that Chris could return to work whenever he felt good enough to do so, the doc now said that Chris wasn't allowed to return to work for at least a week and that he needed to be seen again this Friday.

So, prayers needed still. We never expected all of this to happen. We figured we would go home after Montrose and that the foot would heal after a few days and this would be over. This continues to be a challenge for both of us. Chris is having a difficult time staying home, especially since he is usually so active. (Think gym workouts 5 days a week at 5:30a.m.) I'm having a difficult time running the show by myself. We have been blessed with a wonderfully supportive church who is bringing us meals every other day. I'll keep you posted. These are the pictures I took in the doctor's office this morning after the bandage was removed and before another one was put on.

The Foot (PG-13 due to graphic content)

Since the majority of my readers consist of family members, most of them could probably write this blog entry since they were all there when this happened. Just in case there are a few random readers, this is for you.

As I was growing up, my immediate family would meet in Pennsylvania with my extended family every summer for a vacation. We stayed in my grandma's log cabin and spent our days building forts in the woods behind the cabin. I hadn't been back to the cabin in 9 years since my grandma died. When my cousins, Chris, and I went wandering back to our old forts, we realized there was nothing left of them. We decided we needed to build a fort that would withstand the test of time. That fort started and quickly ended with a rock wall.

Not having been in the woods for so many years, there was a lot of debris that covered the large flat rocks we were using. Chris picked up a rock that appeared much smaller than it actually was. The rock was so heavy it slipped out of his hands, dropped on the ground, rolled down and crushed his foot. I'm not sure how he managed to get down the hill on his own but by the time my dad and I got to him...roughly two minutes after the accident...his foot was so swollen already that we almost had to cut his beloved Chaco sandals off of him. We rushed him to the tiny small town ER and they x-rayed his foot determining that nothing was broken. We were given no real direction on what to do next, Chris was handed crutches, and we were on our way.

Fast forward to a week later. Chris' foot was still so swollen and painful that he went to the doctor and had an MRI done. His ortho doc that he was finally referred to over a week after the accident said that the ER was correct, that no bones were broken, but that his injury was just as bad, if not worse with all of the soft tissue damage.

He has a large hematoma on the top of his foot that can't be drained because it is too long after the initial injury and all of the blood has coagulated. Chris needs to massage the hematoma in an attempt to break it up. Of course he can barely touch it without extreme pain and that is when he is on the narcotics prescribed to him.

He noticed yesterday that his foot was starting to get red. I suggested he call his ortho doc and let him know since his follow up appointment isn't scheduled for another 5 days. Included are pictures he took today. Keep in mind that this happened almost two weeks ago. He is still on crutches. It is hard to see the bruising running along the sides of his foot but you can see some of the bruising that has moved into his toes. It has been a rough few weeks.

Busy, busy, busy

It's been a very busy summer for the Ray family. We kicked it off by going to Florida the first weekend in June to see my sister's family...see last post. The next weekend we took it easy to celebrate Flag Day. How does one celebrate Flag Day you might ask? Great question. Moving right along... The third weekend I was on call for Clarian North hospital...also see a previous post...and Chris was in Washington DC for a conference. The last weekend in June we drove two and a half hours north to Ft. Wayne, IN to go boating with friends of mine from college. The first weekend in July we were in Pennsylvania for the Torrey family reunion and for this weekend, we just returned from another boating trip in Ft. Wayne, IN about an hour ago.

This coming weekend we will be home to celebrate my 30th birthday. I don't know what Chris has in store for me but I'm excited.