Busy, busy, busy

Unlike the FEDEX guy in the commercial where he is just sitting around thinking he's busy - try my life the last several weeks.

Wife has surgery on left foot to remove a dislodged bone and secure ligaments/tendons the first part of DEC and is down for the count for the first few days immediately following. Then hobbling around thereafter.

Prior to surgery - winding down from hosting Thanksgiving Dinner the house was full of activity trying to get ready for Christmas. Tree was cut down, brought home, and it along with the rest of the house was decorated festively. A couple of weeks prior to that the pig-induced H1N1 flu struck the household affecting all but me (and postponing the aforementioned foot surgery).

Two weeks after her surgery my wife went in for a root canal on a damaged tooth. Two days later I went out for a 2-day weekend trip. Returning from that I found my wife in severe pain with a very discolored and swollen left foot. Over the phone on Monday her orthopedic surgeon prescribes antibiotics to combat apparent infection. Tuesday her dentist calls & inquires about how my wife is doing. I tell him, well despite the foot infection she now has, her mouth is doing great. Infection continues to worsen and on Wednesday before Christmas we get into the surgeon who cultures the infection and cleans out the wound and applies and prescribes new type of antibiotics.

Culture on infection comes back as - strep (as in strep throat). While strep is most commonly associated with the mouth, it is also on the skin. We are finding out that usually if a patient is to visit the dentist with a prior surgery in immediate months beforehand it is a usual practice to prescribe antibiotics prior to a procedure such as a root canal. And it wasn't as if the dentist wasn't informed, as she told him about why she was hobbling around on crutches with a boot on her foot.

Finding out that it isn't uncommon that strep gets into the bloodstream through the mouth during a visit to the dentist - so be forewarned. Left unchecked this could've manifested itself into a flesh-eating bacterial infection which would've had more serious consequences.

As a result of all this mess my wife had severe pain/discomfort, mental anguish, and thoughts of WTF could possibly be next? She missed the family night-before-Christmas traditional gathering, as she diligently kept her foot elevated and took her pain & antibiotic medicines. And she is weeks behind in her recovery, which will delay her return to work a full month.

Thankfully all's well that seemingly ends well; including an in-depth talk with her dentist. Foot is mending well and she is off her crutches hobbling with just the boot (for a few more weeks).

All the while I thought 3 kids were tough to keep track of & care for - then suddenly I had 4 (after all, isn't it all about me?).

Hopefully the New Year will bring less excitement, or at least a less painful & more pleasant rewarding excitement. I won't claim that I know what normalcy is anymore, but I look forward to a return to more predictable days ahead.

Happy New Year 2010!