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Open Your Minds #18: Living With The Aftereffects of Necrotizing Fasciitis (By M'buti) by Karen Lynn Vidra, The Texas Tornado
Wednesday, January 15, 2003
I am a grown woman, but I thought I would add my voice to this series. I am honored to be the first adult to be asked to write about my situation and what it is like for me.
I have several problems, actually. You can definitely tell from looking at me that I am physically handicapped. I walk with the aid of a walker most of the time or I use a wheelchair to get around; but for short trips, I use those ~damn~ arm crutches (which I ~HATE~; as they TEAR my shoulders up, or they get "hungry" and bite my arm!). I also have burn scars and surgery scars on my legs (especially my right one), as well as burn scars down my back. I was burned when a guy attacked me and then raped me; and to cover up his "crime" he set my apartment on fire; and I was burned severely when I was trying to escape. I also have scars from the surgeries I endured when I had the necrotizing fasciitis, of which I am about to tell you about shortly (but that came AFTER I recovered from my burns; it was a year AFTER I had gotten burned when I got the fasciitis).
Necrotizing fasciitis is the medical name for "flesh-eating disease". It is a very bad bacterial infection, and it happens when bacteria gets into a cut or an opening, and it goes haywire. As a result, the person can get ~EXTREMELY~ sick in a hurry, and it is lethal. It can hit a person so fast it can kill in only a matter of hours.
I had been fine, getting around on my crutches (~THEN~ I didn't mind them!), and getting back to SOMEWHAT of a normal life, but then on Christmas Eve, 2000, I came down with what I thought was the flu; and as time went on, I kept on feeling worse and worse. I wanted to take care of our baby son, Jubaki (he was just about 6 months old when I came down with the illness), but Roberto (he's my husband) told me no way was I going to take care of the baby when I was feeling sick. I was throwing up repeatedly, and my fever kept reaching higher and higher, and my leg was killing me. (It turned out that a bedsore that had been bothering me was the cause of my illness; the germs got into it, and it went out of control; and as a result I got sicker and sicker.)
The next morning, I was so weak I couldn't get out of bed, and I was vomiting still; I couldn't keep nothing down, not even water, and I felt like HELL. I was also having trouble seeing (I was seeing 2 of everything), and it was making me incredibly dizzy. When Louie (she's my friend, the nurse who took care of me when I was recovering from my burns; and she was so nice to let me stay at her house as I recovered from my burns) came over to check on me, she and Roberto both found me on the floor, passed out. I had thrown up so much I was starting to vomit up blood. Needless to say, they got me to the hospital QUICKLY! (I don't remember any of this, as I was unconscious.)
When I was admitted into the hospital, I was immediately readied for emergency surgery, and to the surgery floor I went. The infection I had was spreading, and I guess my leg was looking quite nasty. All I remember before all of this happened wa that my leg was killing me, and I couldn't sleep because of the pain. It was unlike any pain I had felt before, and I felt ~HORRIBLE~!
When I woke up later, it was at least several weeks after I had my surgery; but I wasn't out of danger. I was still sick, and I couldn't figure out why I had had surgery when all I had was the flu. I also thought I had been burned again, because that was how the pain felt, and I desperately wanted some relief; but no matter what they gave me to stop the pain, I couldn't get any relief, and I was going mad! It was a very bad time for me.
The pain affected every facet of my life; and I couldn't eat. Eventually, I had to have a nose hose inserted (which I did NOT like AT all; I kept wanting to pull it out, in which I often did; and then they'd get SORE at me), and I had to be on I.V.'s all of the time; and I was bedfast. I also couldn't sleep (unless I got shots), and I often would cry or scream out. I was a very difficult patient, and I felt sorry for anyone who had to be around me. Let's face it..I was a ~BITCH~.
It took at least several months before I recovered from the fasciitis, but the surgery I had to stop the damage had damaged the nerves in my leg and was causing me incredible pain (I later found out that the doctor who had done my surgery had removed part of my sciatic nerve, which is the longest nerve in the body). I also had a very bad problem with my blood pressure; and because of the fact that it was so low a lot of the time I was often dizzy, and the dizziness I had caused me to become nauseated (plus the medicines I was on did NOT help). I was a regular ~MESS~!!
I got skinnier and skinnier (why not? I couldn't eat; I was on tube feedings!), and I eventually had to have even MORE surgery; but this surgery was done as a last resort to stop the pain I had been suffering for so long. I had what is known as a "cordotomy", and ever since my leg is numb and I am unable to use it. Oh, I CAN walk on it, but I have to wear a brace on it, and I have to walk with a walker or crutches. I also have to wear oxygen at night because this sickness even affected my lungs; my lungs aren't as strong as they used to be before I got sick. In addition to all of this, I am still on blood pressure medication, as my blood pressure is still lower than normal, and once in a while, I still tend to pass out.
And all of this was because of some ~NASTY~ little germ that got into my bloodstream (and caused me to get this ~NASTY~ disease called necrotizing fasciitis)!
Re-Release! No longer back-listed. Return to the Olde Ways. The hustle and bustle of modern day life has brought many of us to a quick fix attitude.This book is for those of you who are fed up; have looked at your life and your loved ones and realize
Re-Release! No longer back-listed. Return to the Olde Ways. The hustle and bustle of modern day life has brought many of us to a quick fix attitude.This book is for those of you who are fed up; have looked at your life and your loved ones and realize
