Another Pointlesss Week (Warning:Not for the Squeemish!)

[Chillylulu]

Last Wednesday they took the tip bone out of my right hands pointer finger. This week they are running a MRI on my left hand to see if and how much they will take of my left index finger tip bone. 

Here's a picture, I tried to take it so that it wasn't too graphic:



It's a real bummer,  I was always very strong in my younger days. Once, when we were helping a family move, several people were discussing how they were going to get a refrigerator off a tall flatbed. I listened a minute, then I walked over to the side of the truck and picked up the fridge and set it off. I heard about that forever.
I kind of expected to still be strong at 52.

Sorry for the rant, I know a lot of others in here have much more serious problems than I have. Just kind of needed to vent a little.


Chilly

[Yadda]

Wow Chilly!  Sorry to hear about this.  I hope the weeks get progressively better for you.  Will keep a good thought and polish my lucky plierench for you.

Regards and best wishes,
Lyndon

[Papaw]

Tough stuff you are going through, Chilly!!!

[oldtools]

ouch!! What happened? Why? Both hands?  hope you heal & get well soon!  "pointless week" got it..

[lbgradwell]

Yeah, I must have missed the story too. I just checked your older posts too and still can't find it...

Hope it improves, Chilly!

[jimwrench]

Get well soon. Have a friend they are whittling on. Working on his right toes. Got him down to big toe only. He has to go 40 miles one way for treatment in hyperbaric chamber(2Hours) to promote healing then go to local hospital for one hour infusion of antibiotics. Gave him a ride Tuesday as he had car trouble. Seems like troubles come in bunches like grapes. Will be praying for you.
                                                                                              Jim

[Chillylulu]

Thanks everyone.

I heal very quickly, so I am lucky that way.

I have a severe idiopathic peripheral neuropathy. Cause is undetermined, but most likely it is due to an inherited gene. My Dad had it, he lost toes then, eventually, both legs beneath his knees. I have been very careful with my feet and legs and have not had problems there. I also have very good circulation, luckilly.

Neuropathy is something diabetics can get also, but not this severe, usually. None of the drugs that can help with the diabetic kind helped me.

Medical staff are used to people with numb toes and feet, even some numb fingers. They don't understand or have experience with people without any sensory nerves left.  I can't give them feedback or tell them if something is hot, or if it hurts.

It starts at the sensory nerves farthest from your spine, then works its way slowly back. It also includes nerves that control muscles, too. I have lost some control nerves and most of the sensory nerves in my hands. I have no sensory nerves in my feet to half way up my shinbone. I am numb from there up to just above my knees, and half my thighs feel like they have a bad sun burn mostly.

So they just do their best to deal with the symptoms - mostly, dying nerves cause a lot of pain. The other big deal is that I lost a bunch of fingernails starting 2 yrs ago when I lost nerves in my hands. Last July this infection started in the tip bones in several fingers. (I had been doing a lot of yardwork building a big flower bed and had hauled 12 or 13 yards of amended topsoil.) The finger tip (distal) bones were more susceptible than I knew because those bones are very close up under fingernails, they are very thin bones (kind of chisel pointed), and the nail bed skin isn't like normal skin. It is softer, more porous, it needs nail protection.

Infection in bones is called osteomyelitis. It is very hard to get rid of. It can kill you by going from your bone into the bloodstream, and from there it can land on a heart valve. Get a bacterial infection there and pfft, you are gone.

Now they have figured out the bug. It was a weird one, they say. I am on IV antibiotics that Amy, my wife, gives me once a day. (And at $1, 000.00 a dose I am glad it is only once per day.) It is nicer to do it at home instead of having to go to the infectious disease doctors office every day. Tonight I get an MRI of my left hand. Hopefully they only need to take the tip of that pointer finger's end bone. Then I hope to finally have it out of me.

No more yard work for me.

Larry

[lbgradwell]

Well, damn! That just sucks.

So if they don't remove the bone/joint in question, will it turn gangrenous?

[Chillylulu]

Well, damn! That just sucks.

So if they don't remove the bone/joint in question, will it turn gangrenous?

No, i don't think so. I think gangrene is necrotic tissue. I think, in my case, the bacteria were consuming the bone. The infection can spread out and can cause an abcess, though. You don't want pressure building up and pushing bacteria into your blood, I know that.

Chilly

I think the main thing is it is very hard to get bacteria out of bone.

[gibsontool]

Man that'd be tough to handle. wishing you the best. Jim.

[zeet]

Wow, that's a tough road Chilly. I hope the second surgery and the recovery go well and quickly! Wishing you all the best.

[john k]

It seems we are all bullet proof up to age 30 or 35, then Look out.   Chilly, glad you're getting good medical help.   As we mature I think its better than we watch what we lift, and protect our hands a lot more than we did back when young.  Just because I can lift something, I ask self ,,,,, should I?  Never lifted a fridge, but on a bet did put a complete Model A Ford 4 cylinder in the back of  a pickup by myself, and I still walk upright.  Be thinking of you. 

[Chillylulu]

Thanks for all the kind words. They do really help dealing with this stuff.

UPDATE 1-19-2015

MRI results are in today. They confirmed osteomyelitis in my left pointer tip. It goes back about 8mm, so the idea is to cut back the bone, but leave a little where the tendons attach. If it looks bad he will take the whole tip bone. So Monday will be another pointless day.

Get a PIC tomorrow to replace the IV.  7 weeks more of $1000 a dose antibiotics  once a day. That will make a total of $73, 000 in antibiotics so far this year.

The biggest issue I can see is that my left index finger was exactly the size of my nostrils. Now I either have to coordinate with a smaller diameter finger or stretch my nostrils out a bit. Even with that I see a lot of people at my oncologist in much worse case. Better me than someone that doesn't have good insurance, or that wouldn't be paid when not working. And much better me than my other family or friends (including all you good people here.)

So, again thanks for your kind words, thoughts, and prayers. It's my sincere prayer that you are all as safe, protected, loved, and cared for as I feel I have been. That is what turns a possibly negative event into a positive one.

Vaya Con Dios Mi Amigos

Larry C. (Chilly)

[Yadda]

Larry,

Good luck and best wishes on your upcoming surgery.  Your outstanding attitude is to be admired!

Regards,
Lyndon "Yadda"

[Chillylulu]

Current update - 3/24/2015

The right index wouldn't heal completely.  2 weeks ago the surgeon went back in and removed some tissue and, likely,  some left over nail making tissue.

That got infected! But it is only type 2 strep, and I hear that stuff is on everything.
Oral antibiotics were not effective so I had to get a pic line for IV antibiotics. Any kind of antibiotic makes me weak, it seems.

I showed my 4 yr old grandson where the connections and tube is on the inside of my bicep. I told him that it was part of my robot upgrades. He thought that was pretty cool. His parents loved that one.

I get along great with my grandkids, after all, we have a common foe.

Chilly