IT HAS BEEN A LONG HAUL TO GET HERE

If you follow me you know I had surgery and spent a week in the hospital when I arrived in Scotland. Oh, it was so naive of me to think I had a torn ligament and it would heal quickly when I left Oklahoma. I had much more than that and did not know it at all, I was septic in my right knee.

Septic arthritis is considered a medical emergency because of the damage it causes to bone as well as cartilage, and its potential for creating septic shock, which is a potentially fatal condition. It says on the Mayo Web site that it can totally ruin a joint in only 6 days. It was a good decision by the small town doctor in Banchory to send me to Aberdeen to the hospital for IV treatment of antibiotics . It was an even better decision they made at the Royal Aberdeen Hospital doctors to whisk me off to surgery immediately at 10 PM to wash out my knee joint and then get me on IV antibiotics. Removing the infected synovial fluid from your joint serves three purposes: It removes bacteria from your joint, reduces pressure on your joint, and gives your doctor a sample to test for bacteria and other organisms. The most common method of removing joint fluid is through arthroscopic surgery. During this surgery, tiny cameras and special surgical tools are inserted through small incisions around your joint to access and drain the fluid around the joint.

I came home from Scotland not aware that I still had the hardest part of my recovery from the septic arthritis to go. I had received just enough antibiotics to get me through the week of site seeing we did while there and then 3 more days before I ran out of oral medication.



The problem was I did not have nearly enough treatment in Scotland and when I ran out of antibiotic pills after I got home, the barn door was broken down so to speak. I did learn a lot about Socialized medicine while in the hospital in the UK system.

(Maybe that is why I got sick when I did to learn about what they want to implement here for us. Let me tell you we need some fixes, but not like the ones there. If you want to hear more about it leave me a comment and I will post more about it. I have learned much since I have been home from my friends I met in my ward who are still having problems with their care and lack of it. I have also learned it is a heated topic and I had lots of feedback good and some very UGLY to me because I wrote about my experience in an email to my friends who forwarded it on).

It was the mid week and I got a prescription from my doctor, but they did not have them at the pharmacy. They said they did not get those anymore, they were too old of a type and so by the time I got another prescription, it was the weekend and the same story! It had seemed like nothing I was doing was working and the pain was getting unbearable.

I became really sick and had to go to ER here at hometown. They drew fluid out of my knee again and cultured it. It came back again that I was still septic. This staph infection was going to plan on playing hardball in my body. The pain in my leg and hip was horrible and it was still really swollen. I was on so much pain medication I was worried I would become addicted!

I got into my orthopedic doctor in Tulsa and he hooked me up with a most wonderful infectious disease doctor in Tulsa. He drew up a plan of attack of this horrible monster inside of me and we were in it for the long haul together.

I was sent to get in PICC which is a intravenous catheter in my arm so we could give me high doses of antibiotics in IV form. I got them every 8 hours and and it would last from August 6 until October the 7th.

Our table set up with all my things to give me my antibiotic treatments every 8 hours

My hubby was the best nurse I could have asked for, he was always there to give me the medicine. I think I only had to give it to myself a couple of times.

I also had another surgery on my knee area where they irrigated the joint and then took out the infected bakers cyst behind my knee where my infection was dwelling. I was bed fast from about 5 days after I got home from Scotland until I recovered from my surgery. I could not stand the pain of sitting up in a chair. I had to stay sedated because the pain was so bad and my trips weekly to see the infectious disease doctor and the orthopedic surgeon were some of the worst trips I had to make. I just could not stand to sit up in the truck seat that hour to and from the doctor because my leg dangled and put pressure on my knee. I had to go everywhere in a wheelchair for some time and when and I had to use a walker to get to the bathroom at home.

That surgery to clean out my knee and remove the bakers cyst took 2.5 hours and was no easy task to get out. I am grateful my orthopedic surgeon was and is one of the top knee and hip doctors in the United States. He and my infectious disease doctor worked together for my outcome. I am sure we will never know exactly how or where the staph infection came from. I am just grateful that it is gone now and I am back to a normal life.

I did have a scare 2 weeks ago and got up one morning and could not walk on my right leg again shortly after I was off my IV antibiotics. I was rushed to see the orthopedic doctor in Tulsa. They drew fluid off my knee again and did a culture to see if it was back.
Well the good news it was free of staph infection, the bad news is my knee had to have another cortisone shot to get rid of the pain. I can only have a so many of those so I don't know what will happen when I am there at my limit and can't walk because of the pain. They will never know if the infection got into the bone in my leg, because if it is I will always have some live infection dormant there. If I have any leg trauma they say it could come back if it is there.

I have been very lucky to have had good doctors when I got home and a great husband, mother and 2 nurse maids (that bark)
My nursemaids

Zoe top, Jackie bottom



that took care of me night and day for pretty much of the 3 months I was sick.

This week I am able to smile and enjoy things again, I am blessed!

Scotland Chapter 5

Old postcards of the Royal Aberdeen Infirmary

When the doctor came to look at me and tell me about my surgery I could not believe it. He looked like a young Hugh Grant! I hollered at my girls Cherie and Isla that the hospital sure has cute doctors! They chimed in and said "They only come to see you!" You should have saw the doctors face......he turned all shades of red and about folded! I think Ross couldn't believe I did that! It was really cute! That is how the girls and I became fast friends. We were a trio already!

So, I am now ready to go to surgery and they come to get me. I am feeling so sorry for my husband because here we are alone in a strange country and I am getting ready to go get surgery and I could tell he was totally stressed out and as afraid as I was. they said they hoped to do laproscopic surgery but if it was too bad they would have to open the knee up to do a good job. I must tell you I had the morbid thought and made them promise they would not do more to me than they said....I had a vision of waking up with NO leg....


hospital as it looks today pictured above

Our friends had gone home hours earlier and they told hubby to call when he was ready to have them come back and pick him up. He wanted to stay with me at the hospital, and knew I was afraid to be alone. When they came to take me to surgery he followed the gurney down the hall and expected to be led to a waiting room for family of surgery patients, you know like we all are used to. We got to the elevator and the nurse said to him, "You can't go with us". He said "I want to hear how her surgery went from the doctor". The nurse said to him "no provisions for that, you can see your wife tomorrow at 2 o'clock in the afternoon during visiting hours"

Well it was 10:30 pm and that is a long time to wait to see someone who is as sick as they said I was, who was having surgery!

Now he had to call my 86 year old mother that he had no idea what was going to happen or would happen to me! Can you imagine? Those of you who know my mom will not imagine how hard that was! To top it off my mom was not well at the time either because she had taken a horrible fall and was now suffering with vertigo. Thank goodness my niece and great nephew came to take care of her and she wasn't at home alone. That would have been horrible and I would have worried myself sick!

When we got on the elevator the male nurse who was pushing my gurney said to the floor nurse, "You should have not done that to her husband because they are from so far away". She said, "it's the rule" and he said "don't do that to someone like them again" . Somehow I don't think she took that to heart...I am sure she will do it again. She was young and doesn't have enough life experience to know it was a bad thing.

The last thing I knew was I was in "theater" (what they call surgery) and the anesthesiologist was there waiting to knock me out. I do remember saying to her, now there will not be any big surprise for me will there please. She said no surprise.

Hubby found a compassionate nurse who did direct him to a room he could wait in while I was in surgery and he saw me come back to my ward. He did come in and see me to make sure I was okay before he called Richard to come get him at about 2am.

I was out of surgery and there was no more he could do. Richard and Angela came to pick him up.
Hubby sitting in my window Ward 43

to be continued.............................don't want to wear you out to quickly! :)

Scotland Chapter 3

We drove over to Aberdeen after I packed a few things I might need for my stay in the hospital. We arrived at the hospital area and it was not clearly marked as to where you get "dropped off" to be checked in. Richard has always told us that in Scotland they don't want you driving your cars and provide little parking for them which means any designated parking is usually a long walk to where you want to go...that is how they keep the "old world" charm of the country. Well, the line going into one area was backed up, which later we found out was the main door...


Richard parked us in the public parking area and I had to muster up all my courage to stand the pain to walk up to the hospital. It was not a really long walk by normal standards, but a hideous one when you are hurting and limping like I was. I was being brave and thinking of the song "Cowgirls don't Cry" but it was hard! We got to the front door and Ross quickly found a wheelchair, be it the weirdest wheelchair I ever saw, to put me in and we found the area of admittance. I was looking all around and could not believe my eyes...
It looked old and beat up and I was thinking, what have I gotten myself into now!
They sent us down to Rheumatology to see a doctor there. It was a staging area where there were two people waiting one to be admitted to the hospital and other was just to be assessed like I was. A young woman doctor came to see me and went over my symptoms and looked at my leg. She said they needed to do blood work and then she would be back to talk to me.


You know as you sit and wait in a place like that you get to looking everything over! I was getting more freaked out by the minute, but remember I don't do "medical" very well anyway so it doesn't take much to freak me out. About 90 minutes goes by and the doctor comes back and informs me that I have a high level of infection in my blood and my white count was way off the scale..... and that I have a septic knee ( nice for staph infection) and I am going to have to go to surgery! Well you can imagine that now I am about to hyperventilate!

The rheumatology area pictured above
Hubby thinks I am weird I take hospital photos :)

She then tells me I will be taken up to Orthopaedic and I go to surgery from there....and a doctor will come talk to me about my test results further.
A nurse wheels me up to Orthopedic and they take me into a ward FULL of all kinds of people!

My bed is in the back far left corner by the window so we wind through all the people standing around. It was evening visiting hours by then so that is where all the people came from. In Scotland people get lots of visitors I figured out, but it did not help my fear and feeling of lack of privacy at a time I was so scared! They pulled the curtain around my bed and left us.

I was in Women's Ward 43 and I was sharing it with the 5 other women. I had not been in a Ward my whole life and I had not saw one since I was a kid! I don't like things that are too much different than I am used to. Richard and Angela were also fretting the fact I might should have been in one of the country's private hospitals. I was here now, so debate over.

A doctor comes in and talks to us that I need to have emergency surgery to flush out my knee immediately. He said my knee was the least of my problems if this was not taken care of quickly. Hubby and I just looked at each other, I could not believe it, what was he really saying to me, I could die? Yes that is what he meant and we agreed to the surgery. Thankfully visiting hours were over and it was quiet when we talked to the doctor. Hubby looked at me and said "you are terrified"! I replied yes I was, and the sobbing started.

to be continued.........