Mom is notorious for getting an infection whenever she gets a tiny cut or skin abrasion. Without fail, she'll need antibiotics for some sort of cellulitis. We were all holding our breath hoping to avoid an infection but in typical mom fashion, she just couldn't help herself.
Tuesday and Wednesday following the last visit with Dr. Vickers mom was complaining of some slight pain which she couldn't quite pinpoint to the skin or somewhere inside, but coming from her right side somewhere. It wasn't causing her to lose sleep or be concerned, she just thought it was part of the healing process.
Wednesday, when I went for my morning visit with mom before heading to work, I found her in the recliner rather than in her bed. She looked and felt a bit clamy and I asked if she was feeling okay. She responded saying she had been up with a slight fever a couple of times during the night but that she was feeling much better and her fever was gone. I asked that she discuss this with her home nurse, who was due to arrive later in the morning.
Wednesday evening Mom said her nurse wanted her to monitor her fever and call the U of MN if it got above 100.5. She had been feeling okay most of the day so we left it at that and I told her I would check on her Thursday morning.
Thursday I found her in much the same position I found her Wednesday, this time she said her temperature had gotten to 101.5. Dr. Vickers' nurse was not yet in the office but I left her a message explaining things and asking her to call my mom or me back once she was in. Looked like it was going to be a "work from home" kind of day as I waited to hear back from the nurse.
The day was spent on the phone with the nurse, who was monitoring mom from afar, ensuring that it didn't seem dire. Because mom was feeling okay and there were no other signs of infection the nurse told us to continue to monitor things overnight and let her know how things looked in the morning.
That afternoon, during our regularly scheduled bandage change, the skin seemed different that it had in the morning. There was what looked like a little blister over one of the areas from the retention sutures along with the skin looking red and feeling slightly hard to the touch. It was after hours for the nursing staff at the clinic so I called Kim, Mom's other doctor! I once again texted her a picture, asking what she thought was going on. She called almost immediately, concerned about cellulitis, a skin infection. It was back on the phone with the chief surgical resident, who instructed Kim to "lance" the blister-looking thing, drain it and start mom on some antibiotics.
Kim arrived that night, surgical tools in hand, and performed the "procedure" bedside. Mom had almost immediate relief when the area was drained and I had been able to pick up the antibiotic earlier in the day so she was started on that as well. We would follow-up with her surgeon in the morning.
Friday brought more calls and discussions which ended up in a decision that it was in fact a skin infection and that we would need to monitor it. Now that mom was on antibiotics we should see a difference in 24-48 hours.
It is now Sunday and I can honestly say that the last couple of days have been good. Mom has run errands with the kids and me, she is eating well and the skin which was hard and inflamed only a couple days ago is looking better. We have a phone call due to Dr. Vickers' nurse in the morning to update her and she may still want to see mom in clinic but overall, I am hopeful we will get over this hump.
We celebrated my oldest nephew's birthday this evening with steak and chocolate cake. Mom ate well and was happily watching reality TV when I visited with her for her nightly bandage change. I have some scheduled time off of work this week since my husband's mom and grandma are in town for their yearly visit from Mexico and I am looking forward to spending some time with mom now that she is feeling a little better.
No scheduled appointments to see any doctors until Monday, August 5th. Let's just hope there aren't any unscheduled visits in the mean time!
Thanks for all the prayers and positive vibes.
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