I was just reviewing the pictures that I've taken along the way of mom's journey last year and now into this year. When I look at how her legs looked back in February and what they look like now, it is nothing short of a miracle that she has made the progress that she has made. For a woman who feels like she should have died in 2011, her body has been fighting the good fight so so long. We had our second appointment today with Dr Mike and his new bandage approach seems to be helping. Between the bandage and the Lasix, the swelling in mom's leg is next to nothing and without that inflammation, the circulation is improved. She is also not experiencing any leg pain, which means she is now sleeping better at night- something that is very critical for any sort of healing.
Dr. Mike thinks we probably have 4-6 weeks left of healing, which sounds like an eternity, but when you consider that the healing process BEGAN 2/3/12 and it will be just over a year hopefully by the time her legs are completely healed, yes it's a long time- but she was living with this pain and suffering for so much longer before she ended up in the hospital. I do blame her Doctors in San Francisco for not trying other things sooner. Her underlying problem was vascular all along because without blood flow, wounds won't heal- simple science. Just infuriates me that she has had to go through so much suffering and pain because others didn't do what should have been obvious.
I am also mad that I was not as involved, understandably- mom was living very independently in SF on her own and going to all her Doctor appointments alone. Little did I know back then how much more advocacy she needed. She would believe whatever the Doctors would tell her and I don't think I fully grasped what was really going on with her legs. I'm just so thankful that she did finally end up at the hospital and then even more thankful that she ended up here in Redwood City under the care of the great team at Sequoia Hospital. I feel like we are in the home stretch, that we can finally see a flicker of light at the end of this tunnel.
I hope that the vancomycin has been helping, but hope that it has not been the largest component of her healing. She has a few more days of the medication and then we'll see if the wounds continue their healing with the bandage. Although this drug has been wonderful in healing, I am also a bit cautious because I truly believe that this medication has also helped to progress the hearing loss that she has been experiencing. We have to look into hearing aids, but mom is not so fond of dishing out what they cost. I think we will experiment with a cheap pair from EBay to "test the waters".
Looks like things should be pretty easy while I'm away in Maui. Mom should only have one Dr. appt with Dr. Mike and my brother is more than happy to take her (this is the same Dr. who performed his surgery back in August) and no bandage changes- YAY! Fingers crossed that things continue in a positive direction!
If you are squeamish, I would recommend you stop reading now..but here are a few "progress pictures" of where the leg has been and where it is now....simply amazing.
February 2011
August 2012
October 2012
Today's pictures: 
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