Invasion!

I thought I was through blogging about my back injury, but the saga continues. On January 29th I had a bone biopsy in my hip done by Dr. Paul Miller in Denver. The purpose was to attempt to learn more about why my bone density is low and zero in on what to do about it. Although it was an uncomfortable recovery, I seemed to be doing fine.

Then on Wednesday February 6th, the site of the incision became red and puffy. The next morning I went to see my primary care physician, who said I had an infection and that if it got any bigger, I was to go directly to the ER. It got bigger. So I went to the ER.

After enduring three and half hours in the waiting room, complete with the drama of a death behind the doors inside the ER and family members in complete misery, I finally was admitted and seen by the ER doctor. He was very concerned about the infection being so close to the bone, so he took xrays (which showed no abnormalities in the bone) and took blood, which showed I had a Staphylococcus Aureus infection, or Staph. These can be nasty little infections. So they jumped into action, putting me under conscious sedation and opening up my hip (again!) to drain the infection. I must say, it was a little unnerving, and the open wound stuffed with gauze was pretty sick. See above for a self portrait.

So its back on the antibiotics and pain killers, waiting to hear what kind of results the wound culture will show. More soon.