I am finally back home again after 4 more days in the hospital. Things went well for the most part. The pain related to this surgery was not nearly as severe as the first time around.
The doctor (I really like him) said that he was 3/4 of the way happy. He ended up cleaning out the entire incision and took the bone graft out. There was a portion of my muscle that had gotten necrotic (or died) and that was what was causing the drainage. He took that out of there too!
We did 4 cultures of different places in my back. Three have stayed negative so far, and the one that was positive had gram negative rods which is usually a contaminent found on the skin. This culture was on the fluid at skin level so he isn't concerned that there is a true infection, but nevertheless, he has sent me home with a picc line and on antibiotics for the next 6 weeks or so.
If all stays the same, he is thinking about replacing the bone graft in about 2-5 weeks. I'm not too crazy about having to go back for surgery that soon, but he said that the next surgery will be fairly easy as far as the immediate recovery period goes.
Oh, I might as well add that I should not have worried at all about my kids. They are being very loved (or spoiled rotten) by my mom and my in-laws! They may not ever want to come home!
The doctor (I really like him) said that he was 3/4 of the way happy. He ended up cleaning out the entire incision and took the bone graft out. There was a portion of my muscle that had gotten necrotic (or died) and that was what was causing the drainage. He took that out of there too!
We did 4 cultures of different places in my back. Three have stayed negative so far, and the one that was positive had gram negative rods which is usually a contaminent found on the skin. This culture was on the fluid at skin level so he isn't concerned that there is a true infection, but nevertheless, he has sent me home with a picc line and on antibiotics for the next 6 weeks or so.
If all stays the same, he is thinking about replacing the bone graft in about 2-5 weeks. I'm not too crazy about having to go back for surgery that soon, but he said that the next surgery will be fairly easy as far as the immediate recovery period goes.
Oh, I might as well add that I should not have worried at all about my kids. They are being very loved (or spoiled rotten) by my mom and my in-laws! They may not ever want to come home!
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