MY FIRST 911 CALL

I was feeling pretty great on Saturday. I took a shower, washed my hair (okay, Kelly washed it), and aside from being somewhat traumatized by the site of my bare pin sites, it went really well. I sat on the shower seat that we bought and hosed down my pin sites with plain water, no soap, just like my doctor told me. Actually, it's kind of surprising how little pin site care he said I needed to do. No elaborate process like I thought, just wash, dry, and re-cover.

The pin sites themselves looked great. No blood or pus or oozing of any kind. I re-covered them with these wrap around sponge type things they gave me at the hospital. A home aide nurse came around 4 p.m. to check me out, and said I was doing very well. And I really was. My pain was minor, and I was down to only 1/2 of a codeine every 3 hours.

Then suddenly, around 6 p.m., I started to run a high fever, completely out of the blue. It hit me like a truck. One minute I was fine, the next minute I couldn't move. My heart was racing, and I was shaking violently. Something had to be horribly wrong, I thought. Maybe something got infected in the shower?

Kelly called my doctor's service. Half an hour went by, and no word from him. She called his cell phone. Another half an hour. Nothing. She called the immediate care number at the hospital where I had the surgery. The nurse there said the resident couldn't treat me over the phone, that I had to come in. But I couldn't move off of the couch, let alone get down 5 flights of stairs. The nurse told Kelly to call 911.

At that point, I was apparently delirious, starting to talk to myself and not very responsive. Kelly called 911. The EMTs arrived in about 5 minutes and put me on a stretcher to carry me down the stairs. Just then, my doctor called. Two hours after we first called him.

By the time I got to the hospital, the IV saline they were giving me in the ambulance, combined with the massive amounts of Tylenol Kelly had given me had finally kicked in and my fever was starting to drop.

The resident at the hospital looked at my dressings and said everything looked pristine. There was no infection. Apparently, fevers are common after surgery. I probably wasn't taking enough Tylenol to fend it off. Gosh, I wish someone had told me that. Like my doctor. Ahem.

Since there was no way I was making it back up the 5 flights of stairs to my apartment after leaving the ER, we went to my cousin Rick's hotel room at the W, and sent him to stay in our apartment for the rest of his trip. We're now staying here until tomorrow, when I'll try to make it back home. But I feel 100% better, and very strong, so I'm sure it'll be fine.

I'm going to the doctor later today, for my first check up and for my first lengthening. I'll definitely report back on what kind of sensation that is.

Days until removal of the fixator: approximately 79