"Paying The Piper"

Howdy, everyone!

My father would always say, "time to pay the piper" and I never could quite grasp that concept until I got older and contracted fibromyalgia.  Now I feel like I'm "paying the piper" ALL the time for EVERYTHING I do!  The events of this summer are all starting to hit me now. I was on "auto pilot" for a great part of the summer, during Frankie's surgery and subsequent hospitalizations. Now it feels like my "auto pilot" has bailed out on me and all that's left is severe exhaustion.  I've even too tired to feel tired.  Every bone and muscle aches all the way down into my inner core.  No matter what I do or what I take, it doesn't matter.

Yesterday I went to the foot doctor because I was having severe heel and arch pain in my left foot.  I had plantar fascitis a few years back and thought that is what this is now.  The doctor doesn't think so, he thinks it's an inflammation of "Baxter's nerve."  What I wanna know is WHO is Baxter and why is HIS nerve in MY body?  LOL....  Anyway, all kidding aside, he gave me a shot in my heel area (ouch!) and I see him again in two weeks for another shot.  Since I'm diabetic, he also is going to trim away at my ingrown big toe nail and that will help with balance.  He said I do a good job at clipping my nails.  This surprised me very much as I can barely SEE my nails, let alone clip 'em correctly!

Frankie is doing well, just very tired and weak. Holed up in the hospital day after day will do that to you. He's glad to be at home, in his own bed with his lovely wife at his side. (That would be me!)  His drain is still draining, but not as much and it has no smell now, which is absolutely heavenly. Before, it smelled like something from Hell that had creeped up.  Pseudomonas infections do have a weird smell - sometimes it's a fruity type smell and other times it smells like spoiled soil.  He will be seeing the surgeon on Monday and dare we hope the drain will be removed?  I hope so!  But I have been very diligent in taking care of it - the dressing, flushing and emptying. I've sanitized everything - including Frankie! LOL....

Today we went to see Frankie's pain specialist. The Oxy IR that he was on for breakthrough pain just wasn't enough and he was taking the maximum dosage. He has pain in his abdomen where the drain enters the skin and on the right side of his abdomen.  His legs aren't too bad anymore because he hasn't had the Gleevec since the middle part of June. That was placed on hold because of the surgery and now because of the infection in his drain.  Anyway, in the hospital they had him on Percocet, and it actually was working, so they sent him home on enough until we could get to the pain specialist.  Frankie's specialist is so incredibly nice and caring - he said that "if it works, we'll continue that"   He didn't want to increase the Fentanyl patch because he believes this abdomen pain is temporary and as soon as the drain is out, he will feel better.

 I feel just absolutely wrung out. Even breathing is an effort I'm too tired to take.  And this heat just drags on and on.  I can't wait for winter to come and here in AZ, winters are great!!  All sunshine and beautiful weather to get out and walk and do things that you enjoy doing.

Well, that's all the news here.  I hope you all have a blessed weekend and spend some much needed time with family and friends.  Eat well, get plenty of rest and....yeah, right!  This coming from me? The girl who loves fast foods and doughnuts? LOL....  Now, that was the OLD me. The NEW me is going to go through this lap band procedure and eat right and exercise as much as I can handle.  I can't wait to start my new adventure!!

Love ya all!
Until next post,
Missy