One Month, One Week, and Two Days Later

It's hard to believe that it's been five weeks and change since the accident - life before the injury sometimes seems like the distant, foggy past, only partly remembered and not entirely authentic. I don't mean that in a miserable, pitying way - actually, a lot of things have changed for the better since the accident.

As you know, I've been on MASSIVE antibiotics since late March. At first, I was on all sorts of anti-bacterial and anti-fungal medications, but I've been on Unacyn since I left the hospital. Unacyn is a combination of Ampicillin, a general anti-bacterial antibiotic much like Amoxicillin, and Sulbactam, which is an additive that protects the Ampicillin from certain bacteria that can destroy it.

The interesting thing, which I haven't blogged about yet since I've been waiting to make sure I wasn't imagining it since I exited the hospital, is that I feel much better overall for having been on a variety of medications. I had a few health problems before my accident. The chief one was some kind of occult sinus pain, which has haunted me since my mid-20s - literally, I've had a case of sinusitis for over half a decade. I've tried everything from oral antibiotics to steroids to inhalers to air purifiers to home remedies to... well, you get the idea - and almost none of it made any difference. I took prescription Sudafed on a daily basis for about a year before my accident, and it was the only thing that granted me any relief. I have no idea why, really, especially when so much else failed. The entire situation was particularly galling as x-rays and CT scans revealed only the mildest of abnormalities, suggesting only slight inflammation that was hardly proportionate to the discomfort and headaches I lived with on a constant basis.

Since I left the hospital, things have been markedly better. Not fixed - I still have an achy face - but not nearly the kind of pain that I would have expected before the accident. I guess some combination of medicines got whatever it was that was causing my discomfort, and killed enough of it to make a big difference in my comfort level. It's really nice walking around and having a headache all the time to distract me. I think also I might have exacerbated the problem by clenching my teeth, which I do at night, and a month of forced relaxation may have helped with that. I'll have to talk it over with my PCP and see what he thinks.

I'm also breathing better. When I was younger, and more foolish (yes, I realize that's an amusing statement given my 'adult' hobbies like eating swords), I was a heavy smoker. For about five years, i.e., throughout college and off and on for a year or so afterwards, I smoked a lot of cigarettes. If some people have a genetic predisposition towards alcohol consumption, then I must have had a parallel susceptibility to nicotine addiction. Anyhow, during that time, my girlfriend and I smoked two packs a day or so. It was no wonder I never had any money. Eventually, I came down with a horrible case of bronchitis or pneumonia - I forget which - but I had to stop smoking for a month because it hurt too much otherwise. When the course of medications ended and I was back to normal, I'd found that circumstance had accomplished what I couldn't do of my own free will - force me to withstand withdrawal and experience life without the crutch of having cigarettes to set the pace for my daily routine. After that, I might have a cigarette or three when out with friends who hadn't quit, and even backslid into daily use for about six months at one point, but in the long term, the spell was broken.

Unfortunately, just because one is finished with a bad habit, the consequences of said habit may be late in arriving. Since that time, I was always aware of the fact that I'd likely permanently compromised my health through five or six years of constant abuse. Although I could look forward to vastly improved health over the coming years as my lungs repaired themselves, I'd still never be at par with those who'd forgone smoking entirely. Indeed, I spent most of my twenties with breathing capacity that wasn't as great as others my age, and my weight skyrocketed and stayed excessive as I ate more to compensate for the lack of a pleasant vice and the elimination of the appetite suppression that cigarettes produce. In addition, I'd probably set the stage for my later sinus problems by allowing myself to live in an indoor environment where smoking was permitted, and by associating with others who smoked as well.

Cut forward several years to the twilight of my twenties, just before my accident. I felt fine. However, after a month of antibiotics and other treatments, I'm breathing better. Something was fixed, subtly - I realize now that there had been a mild, persistent discomfort in my chest that vanished sometime during my stay, and now I could breathe easier and deeper. I have a friend whom I've known since I started college, and we were both heavy smokers - he much longer than I. He quit several years ago as well, but just a few months ago had to go through intense antibiotic treatment for some kind of persistent bronchitis that had endured in his ravaged chest well past his actual smoking days. I suppose I might have been in a similar situation - perhaps my lungs had never quite cleared themselves out entirely, and I was enduring a mild infection or irritation that, without treatment, I would carry for years. After a month of professional care, I was feeling better in a way that simple abstention from cigarettes hadn't been able to produce.

Other health benefits include the obvious weight loss that came with a liquid diet, although that benefit is rapidly vanishing as I stuff myself full of everything that looks appealing and is within reach. Page and I split a giant box of donut holes this weekend, and today I had a foot-long Italian sub. Oh well - I can put on a few pounds, but I hope I can retain my newly-chiseled features for a while.

I'm finally in the home stretch of my recovery, I think. Food and drink aren't a problem, although I can feel them 'sticking' a little in the back of my throat. I think that's just because of some scar tissue. The drainage valves in my neck are gone! They've been gradually removed by Dr. Smith at the hospital, but I think they must have been shorter than we recalled, since one managed to work it's way entirely out overnight this weekend. It was a little gross, but it was a relief since my neck was sore and stinging, especially whenever the drains were disturbed. Having one out meant the wound could heal and I could be less careful with my collar positioning.

The second one popped out today. I called Dr. Smith, since I now had two bits of medical detritus safety-pinned to my neck. After a quick discussion, I dug out a trusty pair of surgical scissors - I was given a collection of tools when I was discharged, in case I needed to perform self-surgery of this kind - and carefully removed both. I'm now suture free, and I'm hoping my neck will look a lot smoother and less angry in a week when the wounds start to close up.

Now, all that's left is the PICC line in my arm. I'm only using one of two lines, since I discontinued TPN. I met with my infectious diseases specialist today, who is managing my antibiotics treatment and stomach issues. Since I'm tolerating food and water, she may recommend that I switch to oral antibiotics at the end of this week, which would mean I'd off the six-hour IV schedule for good, and could take out the IV line. I am very hopeful that this will be the case, since I'd like to not have to keep waking up once or twice a night to set up the IV line.

One sort of holistic benefit of all of these improvements is that I'm much more mobile. I feel strong enough to get around and be active, even though I have to pause every six hours to apply some medicine. Page and I decided to have some much-needed fun and adventure by driving from DC to Brooklyn, NYC this past weekend.

If traffic's light, the DC-NYC trip takes about four hours each way. We set out in the morning, and hit enough traffic that the first leg of our trip took over five hours. We took turns driving, which worked well, and we improvised an IV stand by hooking my antibiotics pack to the ceiling hook of the passenger side of my car. The IV drip took a VERY long time to complete, since it's dependent on gravity and the pack was barely elevated above me, but it was a five hour drive.

We spent the afternoon shopping at outdoor flea markets and indoor craft shows. Page is a crafter by profession - she makes handmade purses for a living - so I was constantly being introduced to artists and other business people. I didn't buy much - a key chain and a belt buckle - but we had a great time browsing and being in an unfamiliar city.

The drive back was a bit of a challenge. It turned out that the hospital had robbed me of my night-time driving ability, in addition to the other deficits it inflicted. I can usually drive for hours, nonstop, in daylight or at night without problem. After a busy day on our feet, I was exhausted, and couldn't manage more than two hours on the road at a time before fatigue kicked in. Well, that's one more thing to work on - it'll be a while before I take any major roadtrips, I think.

This week involves more medical activity - I have another scan and a meeting with Dr. Smith on Thursday - and getting caught up at work. Things had been quiet during my absence, but now that I'm back, we're back to schedule on our various projects. I won't have a free minute through Friday, I think.

That's all for now - thanks again for reading. I know there are ongoing issues with the comments, so if you'd like to get in touch with me, I set up an email account for just that purpose if you don't already have contact info for me. You can write me at rex.libris.blog@gmail.com. I'm also on Instant Messenger as rexlibris2008, in case you're bored and would like to say hello.