(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . My four month hospital saga finally coming to an end [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-06-08 In early February I had a flare up of a MRSA outbreak, it caused a large pustule to form on my jaw that made it hard to eat, drink, or sleep. While getting treatment for that I developed Thrush. And while getting treatment for that I got Covid. Before Valentines Day I was in the hospital, and on the Sunday after I entered the hospital, when the initially planned to release me, my lungs stopped functioning correctly due to the Covid. I collapsed. My lungs were not able to keep my oxygen levels above the mid 60s without having oxygen tubes in my nose, and I had to wear a mask to sleep. Around February 24th I began having a pain in my bottom and I told the nurses about it. They did nothing. A few days of me telling them how the pain is getting worse, I eventually had blood in my stool and I told them about that. They gave me a cream. They never took a look at my bottom. On March 2nd I was released from that hospital in the late afternoon. On Sunday the 3rd I was in so much pain I could barely move at home. On Monday the 4th, i returned to the hospital. I had to have help getting down the stairs I had to have help getting into vehicle I had to have help getting into a wheelchair at the hospital I could barely move the pain in my bottom was so intense. And as soon as they got me into examination… everything moved fast. I was told I couldn’t have anything to drink despite how thirsty I was. Because I needed to go in for immediate surgery. I had Necrotizing Fasciitis and Gangrene, and it was life threatening. Something the hospital would have noticed if they had looked any of the times I asked them to look at the pain… in my butt. Less than an hour after being examined at the emergency room I was unconscious an in surgery for the first time for the wound. The next day I was being moved to a different hospital with better facilities as they couldn’t get it all out there. At the better hospital I went in for surgery again. 3.5 lbs. That was the amount of flesh removed from my body. The amount of dead, necrotic, and gangrenous flesh they had to clear from inside me. The wound on my butt was massive… and worse was its location. Right next to my anus. For the first ten days I could barely move anything below my waist. They put me through multiple courses of hyperbaric treatments, I had so many cords and wires attached to my body. I wound up breaking out in a full body rash due to the heavy doses of antibiotics I was on that lasted weeks. But eventually my time at that hospital was over. On the 15th I was moved to a different hospital, a Long Term Acute Care Facility. Over the rest of March and all of April I was at the LTAC. Little by little the cords started disappearing from need. First they removed all these nodes that tracked my pulse, oxygen, and whatnot. They gave me an incentive spirometer making it so I no longer needed the oxygen. Eventually I could sit up so I no longer a catheter. Soon after I was walking around so I no longer needed the cuffs on my legs that vibrated. Then the Picc line was removed as the IV antibiotics came to an end. By April 10th I was free of cords on and in my body. But the wound remained. By April 26th my last day at the LTAC before I was transferred to a Rehab/Nursing facility for the remainder of the wound care the wound was still 8 cm long, 6 cm wide, and 3 centimeters deep, after nearly two months of healing. The Nursing facility is a mixed bag. They have good wound care… but terrible food. The LTAC had amazing food. And while i was in the Nursing facility, I wound up getting another infection. This time in my mouth. You see before all of this started, before the wound, before the covid, before the thrush, before the MRSA… I had a fall. A fall that ended with a large piece of wood slamming into the back of my head and knocking out a filling. I had meant to get it looked at, but then the hospital saga started. But the tooth kept getting worse. Three days before my birthday the nursing facility had me go to a dentist to have it looked at, and I had an infection forming in my hollow tooth. Two days later the tooth was pulled. The day before my birthday. Today is June 8th. It has been over 100 days since I entered the hospital for the first time this year. And in that time since I first entered I have only been out of the hospital for a single day. From February 13th until now I have been in a hospital or hospital facility. But its almost over. The wound is almost gone. What currently remains of the wound is a section the size of a skittle. Which they estimate will be healed within the next five days. So by June 13th I should be out of the hospital.. a full four months in the hospital. Thankfully I have been able to keep from going into a complete stress spiral thanks to my friends, my family, and my polycule. in that time I have missed Valentines Day, my brother’s birthday, one of my girlfriend’s birthday, my own birthday, a planned trip to visit another of my girlfriends and her wife, my grandma’s birthday, my nephew’s birthday, a friend’s birthday, and haven’t been able to work in months. All because a nurse or assistant wouldn’t take 5 seconds to look at my butt. 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