Stay at Va Over

A two month odyssey in the VA medical system gave me sensory overload, starting with the ubiquitous room freshener. Symptoms began with headache, nasal swelling, sore throat. Oh, crap, was I getting a cold, which meant Kirt would get it, and then, I’d smell it, air freshener. I can’t be the only person in the world allergic to air freshener. This is the same thing that happened to me at the Hilton in Trinidad, where a fresh spray gassed the room overnight. An asthma attack froze my lungs after insisting my nose be closed. Thanks for your attention to detail. Ingesting the outdoor scent of chemicals is so much better than opening a window.

Kirt was treated to a plethora of experiences beginning with two weeks bed rest. At seventy what could be better for you? Then he was treated to a femoral bypass with staples from the crotch down his left inseam. The soft, chubby inside of my legs cringed every time I looked at his tender thighs. A fifth toe removal followed the bypass about a week later. Suture line quality made moot by below knee amputation around a week after toe extraction. The bypass surgery failed, but the suture line is healing beautifully until it intersects with below knee amputation. Trimming a nice flap for a stump must be perfected by OJT, on job training. I don’t imagine all flaps coming out of residency to be created equally. Kirt’s surgeon did a really lovely flap.

I thought the stump staple line had issues from the first time I saw it. One of the residents disagreed with me saying that it was beautiful; Kirt had held  his leg wrong, messing everything up. Leave it to a patient to screw up perfectly good work every time. Within days of the amputation the suture line was bright red radiating to dark further away, a couple of black spots looked to me like clotted blood, since then, the staple line has opened up in those areas. I would no longer even call it pretty. 

After the amputation, muscle spasms hammered his thigh and what remains below knee. Dr. Aviles, the excellent rehab doc, ordered calcium, which has helped decrease the cramps, and probiotics for Kirt’s intestines, but had no influence with the quality of breakfast whatsoever.

On Thursday, the surgery residents pitched another amputation on the basis of the poorly healing suture line and the stump healing at an angle impossible for prosthesis. Additional leg removal declined at this time, so Kirt was sent home on Friday. Hallelujah, saints be praised.