This week I went back to work after being off for two months. It was almost like returning after maternity leave although being a teller requires very little technical retraining so I was able to hop right back into it. There was one hick-up when I got knocked off of certain systems for a couple of days but other than that, things went okay. I can't really wear heels at the moment so I found short white dress socks and wore them with my saddle shoes. A lot of my work clothes come from Modcloth.com so the look works really well.
By Wednesday, I finally got the PICC out of my arm and was able to shower for the first time without my arm being wrapped in plastic. It's the little things that matter. I'm still on oral antibiotics for the next couple of weeks but all looks good. I'm also back to driving. Happily, it's spring and I've been able to indulge in my favourite thing ever; driving my Mustang with the top down. I am tired though. I didn't think that I would be so worn out, still. I come home pretty exhausted. Since getting off the IV I've been sleeping really well, so that's an upside. I've been walking regularly to build up un-used muscles. With the incision in my arm healing nicely, I hope to start swimming next week.
When I look back on that first week in the hospital, I realize how I wasn't nearly okay as I thought I was. I was just so relieved to be out of the intense pain I had experienced in the four days leading up to my surgery. It's probably a good thing that I wasn't totally aware. I was too focused on getting better to worry in my usual characteristic way. How really rare an epidural abscess is was brought home when I had to go to emergency a few weeks ago. My PICC line had plugged and out-patient had closed so I needed to go in to get my meds. While getting my meds in a room at PLC emergency I hope to never see again, a few of the on-call doctors came by because they wanted to hear my story. They were curious because as one of them explained “we hear about it in medial school and then never actually see one.”
The past several weeks have been interesting. I've caught up on some reading. Tried to ignore the family room where my son has made every effort to make it appear as though a tornado has gone through. I've done some Netflixing: The Fall, The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Scrotal Recall and The X-Files. I've also been working on my second-to-last course for my masters. I was in the beginnings of illness when I finished the last course which resulted in my lowest mark (unfortunate but unavoidable). I started this next course a bit behind but I've been able to catch up and will hopefully finish this one with a much better grade.
As an example of how antibiotics don't work with viruses, I've had the stomach flu while hooked up to my IV line as well as a sinus cold. The flu was directly after being released for the hospital and I regretted that viruses don't have faces that I could punch.
At any rate, I hope to avoid ever experiencing anything like this again. Given the rareness of it, I'd like to think that lightening won't strike twice. I wouldn't say I'm totally back to normal but I'm getting close to what I consider normal in my life.