Donna in Hollywoodland

The blog from Los Angeles and Hollywood by Donna Grayson

Saturday, September 10, 2005


Movies and More

My friend Karie called to see if I wanted to see a movie. Anything to make me forget about the infection and the paramedics this morning.

First, I had to pick up the car. Then run to The Library and return some books.
Then run back to Ralphs Pharmacy to get my new prescription.
This time it was Cephalexin in a liquid.
I did alittle grocery shopping. Then ran home.

Karie picked me up. And we went to Arclight Cinema .
We had dinner at the Arclight Restaurant, and then we went to see The Constant Gardner .
Wow, what a dramatic movie. I bet it gets Oscar nominations. Very serious, and very deep.

And since the plot revolves around a pharmacutical company, I couldn't help by tie it in somehow with my trips to the pharmacy and my bad reaction to the first antibiotic. It kind of seems where I am "at" right now.




Paramedics

The first thing I did was take my car in to get the breaks fixed. $470 - It was my own fault. I needed new calipers, and new rotors in addition to the break pads. It was down to metal on metal.

When I took my morning dose of antibiotic, something similar happened to the reaction from yesterday, tho not as bad. Just a jolt.

The Home Nurse came by. She helped me clean the infected incision and she put a new bandage on it.
No temperature, so thats good. Blood pressure good too...120 .

Then it was time for my next dose of antibiotic.
This time I got a really bad jolt, followed by a weird feeling in the left side of my brain - like ice cold numbness.
I was panicking. What to do ?
I called 911.

He asked me if I was having shortness of breath, trouble breathing, hives.
My answer was "No, my left brain feels weird".

I called my doctor on the phone. She was on call. She said she would get me a new prescription.

By then the Paramedics arrived. And the weird feeling was going away.
But my blood pressure was really weird. The first number really high, about 165, and the bottom number was so low that at first he couldn't
find it.

They asked me some questions, mostly having to do with breathing and a rash. And I told them I was feeling better.
It was just a weird reaction to the antibiotic.

I wasn't taking that thing again.




Friday, September 09, 2005


Infection

After spending Wednesday and Thursday resting at the house by reading and surfing the internet - well, I did start going for brief walks up and down the block - I thought everything was moving along wonderfully.

Well, no it wasn't ...

When I got out of the shower, I noticed the bandage on my right breast was coming loose.
And there was all this white goop under the bandage - oh, no, Puss.
And around the bandage, it was all red.

Oh, no - my incision is infected.

I called the doctor right away. And she called in a prescription for me to Ralphs Pharmacy .
It is closer to my house than Rite Aid.

Since the car is still not in good shape, I had to jump on the bus.
When the pharmacist shows me the bottle I was like "Oh, No". It was big, chalky looking tablets.
I can't swallow those.
I had to call the doctor to get a new prescription.
She gave me Erythromycin in a liquid instead.
And for some reason, the pharmacy didn't have an entire bottle of the prescription. The pharmacist gave me 3/4 of a bottle, and told me
I'd have to come back for the rest.
At this point, I was "Okay, whatever."
It took a good 45 minutes to get the entire prescription thing straighten out.

I go home and I take the medicine. And boy, does it pack a Punch.
I have to lay down, the room is really spinning and I am really feeling weird.

The pharmacist calls me later to say that the rest of the medicine will be in a few days later than expected.
I asked her "Does this liquid contain alcohol?"
The answer was No - so I don't know why I got jolt.
It was like taking a shot of vodka.



Tuesday, September 06, 2005


Its Out !!!


The 2:00 doctors appointment could not come soon enough. I was actually at the doctors a 45 minutes early. I took a taxi since the car is acting up.

I sat in the courtyard playing computer games on my cell phone.
As I was sitting on a bench, a guy sits next to me. He seems like he has MS or Parkinson's or something similar.
He pulls out a cigarette, and starts to smoke.

I immediately stand up and move away from the cigarette smoke, to the other side of the courtyard.
I don't mean to judge, but I can't believe that poor man would still smoke cigarettes in his condition.
I can kind of understand - its been really hard for me to give up my morning Half-Caf coffee even though I really want to.
But I have given up Dairy Products, Alcohol, Processed Foods, and Preservatives for the most part.
I just hope and pray that man is making other healthy choices if he can't give up his smoking.
And I am willing to bet that the Medical Professionals that he is seeing, are not giving him good nutritional and health advice.
Its all about what Drugs they can give you to make you better. And the drugs just cause other problems down the line.

Finally, I was in the Doctors office to get the Drainage Tube out of my armpit. My doctor had an Intern with her today, which I was happy about - because I was worried I would faint when she pulled the tube out.

As I was laying on the table and getting ready to get it removed, the doctor joked "Are you sure you don't want to keep it?"
I was like, "Oh, no way."
She joked about some patients coming in to get the drainage tube removed - and they have given it a Name.
Like "Dotty, the Drainage Tube". And then she wonders if they have become to attached to it.
"You won't have separation anxiety if I take it out, will you ?" The doctor asks.
"No, No" - I say. The thought of giving the plastic tube and collection bulb a Name, never even crossed my mind once.

I was laying down, with the doctor on my left, and the intern on my right.
I was bracing to feel the Tube come out.
The doctor removed it - and I felt Nothing.
Not the slightest thing.

Thank God that is over with.

We went over my three Incisions. They all seem to be healing well.
The doctor told me to go home, and take a hot shower. And when I remove the bandages to get into the shower, I will see a small hole in my armpit where the drainage tube had been.
"Oh, no - a hole in my armpit."
She answered that it was okay, once I got out of the shower, just put more gauze bandages on it.

The best news - I get to go back to work in a little over a week.

I celebrated by getting a Cafe Mocha at The Hospital coffee stand. I sat in the hospital lobby and watched the TV while I enjoyed my Mocha.
And I called my boss and coworkers to give them the date I would be back at the office.

I took a Taxi home. And I guess the taxi driver was worried he would catch something from me, since he picked me up at the hospital.
He had all the windows rolled down, and the controls were locked, so I couldn't roll them back up.
I really didn't mind. It was nice to have the warm breeze in my face.




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