Hi DC friends!
i hope somone is still remembering me. :-)
For those of you, that are interested in my story, i divided this very long post (sorry for that) in two parts. The "Making a long story short" with the most important facts and "The More detailed story" part with, you've already suggested that :-), more and longer details.
But nevertheless if you read the short or long part, please read the following "Thanks to" part which i consider the most important one.
The "Thanks to" part:
First i want to say, that i was soooo impressed how much sympathy and interest for my situation come from so many DC members, proofing again that DC is more than a simple forum where many people write some posts. It's a circle of friends that take care of each other!
So my first thanks go to the whole DC community for that. It helped me much. It feels good to know that i was not forgotten and there is a world outside that missed me. THANK YOU!!!
Special thanks go to the members of DC that overwhelmed me with postcards and gifts sent to the hospital or to my home address. In detail this are (not in special order or rating):
Momoman: What a cute puppy on your card! Made me (and the nurses that saw the card) say "Ooooooooh how sweet and cute". Many thanks for your wishes too.
Mouser: You can now get your cat calm down again. What a special picture of a cat. LOL! Many thanks for the funny "cat card" and your "get back soon".
Cranioscopical: WOW! A Cody-Card carrying a special JoTo-Coin in his beak. Many, many thanks for your effort creating this card and your good wishes.
Lanux128: Thanks for your card with the two riddles, both still not solved. :-) First i have to think a long time about what is the building on the card? Petronas Towers? Taipeh 101? Or something comletely else? And, what was wrong with your card that you excused yourself for not getting a proper one? What was improper with it? Please help and give me the solutions for the two riddles now. Of course thanks too for your greetings.
Carol Haynes: Hahahaha! Your card was funny. Especially the picture where the chicken feeds the medicine to the teddybear. I can live with the imagination being a teddybear, but i better dont showed the card to the nurses, as they are represented by a chicken. LOL, no! Only joking. Thank you so much for the laugh and your wishes.
dementedmuppet: Thank you very much for your donationcredits. I'll use them to buy me a beer or two...???...err..i mean a health tea of course and drink it with your nick in mind.
Xenonym and dlagesse1992: Thank you very much for your wishes via the forum PM. Even if i could it read only when i'm already released from hospital it still gives me a good feeling.
And last but not least KenR: Ken! I think i don't have to say anything about your greetings and card. You already know that your card was a really special and important thing for me, right? So let me say only a pure "thanks that you are here and that you thought of me". We'll talk more in IRC soon.
I should say, that the nurses that brought me the cards and letters are very confused when they handed me the mails, as they can't understand that i get mail from all over the world. I think they must think i must be a really worldwide important person or a celebrity. :-) Thank you for that experience also.
And an additional special thanks go to nudone, mouser and the community again for the especially for me and my situation created "cody recovery" mug. Nudone for creating and painting the always so cute and brilliant cody pictures on it (soooo cute and i love cody and used the mug a lot already), mouser for organizing and sending the mug and the community for offering the money spent for that purpose.
THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!
Making a long story short:
Somehow (don't ask me how) i got an inflammation with two abscesses. One on every side in the chest. I have had to go to hospital for 5 and a half weeks and got 3 operations. I was released on friday 7th, Dec. 2007, but still not full recovered yet. I still have to go to hospital every day to get outpatient treatment. But that's still better than lying in hospital the whole day. Nor I felt any pain after the first operation nor i feel some now. I feel fit again and only the two big bandages still reminds on what has happened. I also don't go to work at the moment and it seems i don't have to go this year anymore because the process of healing (closing the wounds) is still in progress.
By the way, for those who are interested, the correct medical name for my illness was "Necrosive and abcessive mamma on both sides".
The more detailed story:
It began middle october that i felt tired and exhausted every day. Every step costs me a lot of energy and after a few steps (or stairs) i have to rest. I felt dizzy all the time too.
Then i got 3 days of fever and i still thought it is only a normal flu. And as the fever was gone again after this days and never came back i don't care anymore about this.
After another week i felt two thick "things" under my skin directly under my breasts in the chest, going from the middle of the breast up into the armpits. These things are getting bigger and bigger every day and begin to hurt after a while.
Then i went to my doctor and she recognized it as an inflammation and gave me some antibiotics. But after another 3 days we both recognized, that this don't help. So the last and only chance to get rid of this "thingys" was to go to hospital for more diagnostics.
At noon 31st, Oct, i entered the hospital and have had some more tests there. That results in, that i got 2 big purulence filled abscesses, that must be cut in an operation.
After waiting 8 hours at 23pm on the same day i was brought into the operation room. The first operation durates about 1 and a half hour. After 2 hours i woke up again in the intensive care unit and felt well. I was in the ICU for the next 1 and a half day and then was brought again into the operation room for another operation to cut again some portions that couldn't be cut in the first operation.
After that second operation i have had two cuts in my chest about 2-3 inch long each in the skin and about 10 inch long under the hood. Both were about 1-2 inch deep.
I was brought to a normal care unit after this second operation where the long lasting, very boring healing process began.
They insert some sponges in the wounds, cover the whole area with a airtight foil and connect two vacuum pumps with some hoses to it. The general idea behind this treatment was to force the wounds to keep tight to the sponge which helps the wound borders heal without grow together to early and from bottom up not vice versa. The pumps also suck the still generated ichor out of the wounds.
Every sponge cycle lasts for 5 days without any further treatment. Then the sponges and the foil were changed, the wounds were inspected and another 5 day cycle began. Very boring for me, as i felt fit and dont want to stay in bed. But when i planned to leave the bed i always have to carry the two pumps with me and take care of the hoses that connects them to me. Impossible with a helping third hand.
After another 3 weeks they took me again in the operation room for a third operation. This operation was necessary to cut of the dead and dried out meat, that prevents proper healing. After that the right side was left without the sponge and pump treatment, because it has healed enough so that my body can now go on heal it without any further mechanical help. The left side was left with the sponge for another 2 weeks.
On Thursday 6th, Dec. morning the 5 day cycle was again over and the sponge should be changed. The doctor inspects the left wound and decided that there is no further need for the pump on this side now too.
Then after that all went on very fast. Without the pumps and the now "self healing capable wounds" the further treatment could be done in an outpatient way with no need for me to stay in hospital the whole day.
So i was allowed to leave the hospital next morning with the requirement to come back every morning to change the bandages and inspect the wounds.
Today (Mon, 10th Dec.) i was in hospital again and they decided that from now on, as the wounds are still healing well, the bandages can be changed from a nurse that come to my home. So there is no need for me anymore to drive to the hospital on a daily base. Only once a week i have to go there for inspection of the wounds.
So now i am at home, looking forward to the nurses visit tomorrow the first time. As i'm still not recovered fully yet, i'm still not allowed to go to work and it seems that i won't this year anymore. The full healing of the wounds, as they were very big and more important very deep, will still last several weeks from now on, we'll see.
Thanks again for all DC membersthat accompanied me in this bad hours and days with all the greetings, thoughts and good wishes.
I'll be back in the IRC channel soon and then you have to expect me there regularly again. You have been warned. :-)
Your thankful DC buddy
JoTo
