Abcess story continues…..

We got to Tweed Heads hospital and spent a while waiting to be seen and checking me in! Maybe in the stress of the situation one of the abcesses decided to pop rather than be popped (sorry again!)and when I lifted up my arm for the doctor to examine and remove the dressing it acted like removing the lid from a tightly rolled up tube of tooth paste, I'm sure your imagination doesn't need much more help there. The doctor didn't flinch but grabbed his swab jar to take a sample, NICE! Steve took a picture on our mobile phone camera but I can't get it off of that so you've been spared the image for now!

I was then taken to a bed on A&E and left to wait for another doctor and surgeon to come around to look at it. In the meantime I was well dehydrated and they needed to get me on a drip and start pumping industrial strength antibiotics into me. Due to being so dehydrated the nurse really struggled getting the massive tube, sorry needle, into my vein and had 3 attempts at it before getting the doctor back to do it which he managed first time, but I was really cringing as I knew more than ever what was coming and it wasn't nice.

I was left alone for a few hours waiting to be seen and had also been given some great pain killers so zoned out for a while. Steve left to find a campsite where he would eventually end up staying for the next 5 nights as it was evident that I was going to be admitted. The surgeon saw me and it was agreed I needed to be knocked out and those bad boy abscesses were to be drained, so I tried to mentally prepare myself as they took me up to the ward ready for surgery at 5pm.

My ward was great, I had my own room with ensuite, TV, adjustable bed, it was great!! 5pm came and went and by this time I was starving and desperate for a drink as I hadn't eaten since the night before and had to have an empty stomach and the only liquid I was allowed was a mouthful to take the pain killers with. It got to 6.30pm when the nurse came to me and said I'd been pushed back to tomorrow afternoon, I really didn't care and just wanted food and water which came as quick as a flash. Thank you!!

The following morning Steve was back around 9am which became his routine time for the duration of my stay there and he didn't leave till 10pmish each night, completely abusing the 2pm-9pm visiting hours, the nurses were very good though and he got a few free cups of tea and cheese and biscuits too.

During the day and night the nurse would come in at midnight, 1am, 6am, 7am 12pm and 1pm to run my antibiotics through my IV tube and canula in a vein a couple of inches above my wrist on the inside ish of my arm . I was on twice the normal dose, they never explained why but I think that must have been pretty serious. My poor little vein couldn't handle the amount that was being pumped into it and gave up after the 5th go which basically means that the vein collapses and the liquid goes into the muscle and really bloody hurts and feels like a red hot poker. I had told the nurse when it started to throb and leak but she wanted to get me through that dose before flushing it through with saline, this had me crying again and not because of the pain in my armpit though! Soon after the canula was removed yay!!

I was really not looking forward to having another canula put in because the last one wasn't really a pleasant experience but knew it had to be done. The anesthetist did it this time and seen as he does loads of these a day it made me feel better but he struggled to find a vein, they had all disappeared after the last 24hrs of abuse! He got one eventually and it was much more comfortable, well as it can be with a massive needle stuck in your arm.

Can't tell you much about surgery I was knocked unconscious nice and quick and woke up with my arm all nicely strapped up. I felt no pain which was probably down to the morphine and was relieved to have the terrible threesome removed.

The next day I needed the dressing changed and was the first time I got to see what kind of mess my armpit officially looked like now, if you've seen the pictures you'll know! Steve was there ready with the camera which I wasn't happy about but am pleased with his actions now, it's disgusting to document at the time but good to look back on now.

They only drained 2 of the abscesses as the third had relived itself already, there were now two large gaping holes which had been packed with surgical cotton stuff, this needed to be removed and then re-packed, pardon what are you going to do to me!?!? Believe it or not it didn't hurt at all in fact I could barely feel it (I still have little feeling under the top inside of my arm and some areas of my armpit)the first piece of cotton wool that was pulled out was roughly about the length of a ruler, amazing, and goes to show just how big the infected cavity was, the 2nd wasn't as big but still shocking enough and they told me that the two abscesses were joined together which is called communicating, well that's just lovely isn't it!?!?

I was so much more comfortable now and the antibiotics were working well, the doctor wanted to discharge me the next day but the thought of going back to a campsite with two massive open wounds to look after really wasn't fair on Steve and to be honest it scared the hell out of me and I burst into tears, the nurse thought it was appalling the doctor wanted to do that and overruled him and kept me in for another 3 days.

During this time my vein collapsed two more times and I think I became the student doctors subject to try and find a vein, at one point there was 3 of them that had a go, it was awful I hated every moment finding my happy place became more and more difficult.

When it got to the 4th day I was more than ready to get out, I had had enough of the food, being jabbed with needles, wheeling around a bloody machine making it difficult to go to the toilet with tubes everywhere and Steve bless him was spending, as mentioned, 12 hr days with me. He was so good and I love him even more for being there all the time even if for some of it I was passed out, eating one of my 3 meals a day and having a bed at night all of which must have really annoyed him seen as he had a cr*p choice of food from the canteen and was going back to a tent and roll mat to sleep on.

Upon getting out Steve took me to the beach where we had a stroll he took the p*ss out of how stupid my stance looked with all the bandaging, like I was holding an invisible beach ball. We went back to the over 50's static home camp site where he'd been staying as it was close to the hospital and he cooked me dinner and took care of me.

Steve you're the best and I don't know what I would do without you, good boy!! xxx

P.S They never actually told me what caused it, maybe an ingrown hair (think twice before using that almost blunt razor!!), insect bite and or mixture of the bacteria, heat and humidity in Northern Queensland. And I was worried about snakes, sharks and spiders!!!!