This will be long, heads up, but here is the full timeline of what is happening with my foot!
Friday, April 24th; I wake up and it hurts to put weight on my left foot. Not fun, but theres no bruising or swelling happening, so it doesn't seem too bad. I was a dancer when I was younger, I know what to do. I keep it iced and elevated and just generally try to not mess with it. At the end of the day, my foot still hurts, though. I call out of work for the next day because I'm opening, and I want to give my foot the best chance to heal
Saturday, April 25th; foot is not better. I slept terribly due to the pain. I have a compression sock that I put on, hopefully that doesn't cause any extra problems. I call out of work for the next day, as well, because this seems pretty bad. But! I'm an independent woman! So, I'll be fine by tomorrow, right?
Sunday, April 26th; Oh No. The pain was so severe I was barely able to sleep for more than an hour at a time. This HURTS something is wrong. Foot is visually fine, it's not bruising or swelling, so whatever it is, it's deep. I call a friend to ask if she can take me to urgent care. She says yes, because she's awesome. Go to urgent care. They take the compression sock off of my foot. I am crying I am in so much pain, it's at least a 8 or 9 out of 10 pain. They tell me the compression sock was too small for my foot, and that I shouldnt wear it. Urgent care nurse says she "strongly recommends" I go to the ER.
Friend and I go to ER. They take some xrays, no broken bones or sprain - yay! They have no idea what it is- less yay. ER gives me stronger pain meds and one of those walking boots to get around, and send me home. If it isn't fixed in 1 or 2 days, come back. Go home, take pain meds, try to sleep.
Monday, April 27th; my foot is bruising and swelling. Just a little, not a lot, but it's weird. Following doctors orders, icing foot, keep it elevated, rest as much as possible. Pain meds make me sleep, so I take a 4 hour nap in the middle of the day
Tuesday, April 28th; swelling and bruising is worse. I'm in a lot of pain, but surely it will go away? This isn't the worst thing ever. I can survive this. I have to call both jobs I work at and say I'm having a medical emergency at this point, because I am, so that's what's happening with work.
Wednesday, April 29th; Oh Fuck. I need to go back to the ER. The pain meds only help temporarily, the bruising is bad, as is the swelling. Call friend again, she says yes again ( I love you, Avery) and off we go to the ER
Its the same one we had been to before, but different doctor on rotation (? Idk if I'm using that right) it's also a smaller ER, which is great because it means I'm seen super fast. First doctor of the night comes in, she looks at my foot for 1 minute, then goes and grabs another doctor. 2nd doctor also has trainee with him, so we are now at 3 doctors looking at my foot.
2nd doctor says whatever it is, it's infected. We need some blood from you and to drain some of the fluid in your foot. Fuuuuuuuuuuck. They take some blood for testing, great. They inject my ankle with numbing agent 7/10 on pain scale. They get some stuff out, its pus+blood
2nd doctor tells me "this is a bigger issue than we can help you with here, we need to send you to another, bigger ER" I get to ride in an ambulance for the first time, that was cool. I'm sent off to the big hospital
At big hospital, they are Worried. This is Bad. Somehow, the sample they took from my ankle dissappears during transit. They need another sample. Except this time, they cant use numbing agent. We're just gonna have to do this. 11/10 pain. I was screaming at nearly the top of my lungs, it hurt so bad.
The whole night I have doctors and nurses in and out of my room drawing blood, taking my temperature, giving me water, etc. Avery has gone home at this point, she has work in the morning, I do not blame her at all.
Official diagnosis: shits fucked. Really, really, REALLY bad. I nearly went septic due to how bad the infection is, they are genuinely concerned I might die and/or have to have my foot cut off (I am told that part later). I am scheduled to have surgery first thing tomorrow morning. I can't eat or drink anything for 12 hours beforehand, which sucks majorly because pain meds make your mouth so dry
Thursday April 30th; they wake me up at 7am and tell me, we're going to surgery. Right now. I am getting an Incision and Drainage procedure, which is what it sounds like. They're gonna open a small hole on the side of my foot, then try to get as much gunk out as the can. Sounds good to me. I'm in surgery for about 1 1/2 hours, according to the post-op person who was there my main request after was to go back to bed. I end up sleeping until around noon that day. Surgery went good!
Friday, May 1st; I am on strict bedrest. No getting up At. All. They take an MRI of my foot, that's cool. It takes about an hour, and I am losing my mind with boredom and also pain. Turns out the IVs (yes, plural) they have in me are not working. They need to get contrast in me for better photos. After a discussion, we decide to send me back to my room upstairs so I may take meds and not to stress me out too much. I'm still in pain, but I did just have surgery, soooo nothing too alarming
Saturday, May 2nd; hey, why is my calf red hot to the touch? The infection was in my ankle, right? I mean, they are connected, but that seems weird. Doctors agree, that seems weird. I have a test for my heart function they're doing on me right now, basically measuring how fast my heart is going, and its beating waaaaaaay too fast. Something is up, but no sure explanation as to what. They might need to do another surgery. Great. I'm put on the no eating or drinking for 12 hours thing starting midnight.
Sunday, May 3rd; Surgery today! Right? Wrong. They give me a CT scan on my foot and then I wait. And wait. And wait. At 2pm they finally roll me into the pre-op room. And I wait some more.
At 4 pm, hey we cant do the surgery today. I'm gonna fucking lose it. I'm tired, in pain, and so hungry I might start eating the walls. We're doing it tomorrow, but you can go eat now. I doordash myself a huge-ass burger and fries because it is the only thing I want right now.
Monday, May 4th; OK, were actually doing it this time. I'm at pre-op at 8am, and am done at around 10, but again sleep afterwards. The infection was bigger and nastier than they thought it was, and it was starting to spread into my leg.
I get the official diagnosis as to what is wrong: Cellulitis. It's a skin infection that's pretty common, but can get bad fast. Mine had. The initial Cellulitis hadn't been that bad, then I mustve gotten a small cut on my foot that got MSSA into it (MSSA is the sister of MRSA, it is easier to treat, but slightly less common) The infection had then gotten into my bloodstream. I am told by the nurse helping me that if I had waited any longer to come to the ER, I would have died. Flat out, nothing could have been done. So that's fun
Tuesday, May 5th; Theyre going to look at my heart to make sure there isn't any infection up there. Luckily, there's nothing! The infection is mostly contained, and they have me strapped up to a 24/7 line of antibiotics, we are gonna get rid of this
Thats pretty much all the big things that have happened. I am still in the hospital right now, still cant walk or put any weight on my left foot, but I dont actively feel like I'm dying anymore! When I left for the ER the second time on Wednesday, I genuinely felt like I was about to keel over at any moment in time. I cannot explain to you the feeling other than death.
According to the doctor's and nurses here, I should be looking at going home around Monday or Tuesday, and they are looking to see if I can spend a day or two in a physical therapy rehab facility, just to help build strength in my leg and foot again.
I will probably be posting a gofundme link sometime soon, as this has most definitely been thousands of dollars, even with my insurance, and I would appreciate all who can donate, however little it may be.
To end this all, please make sure you know some warning signs of infection, especially when it comes to feet/hands, as they can get the worst the quickest.
And a massive thank you to the medical team here at the hospital I am at. I would have died, and it would have hurt the whole time, and they saved me from that happening. I have so much respect and gratitude for the team who helped me get better
