What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger!

There’s a song by Kelly Clarkston called, “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”  The words of the chorus clicked with me the minute I heard them.  It seems that trials are sent our way to help us become stronger, if it doesn’t kill you first.  haha

This week has been a great week and I’ve been so busy with Tauna’s birthday, graduation and Ryan Stephen Rindlisbacher’s baby blessing. (See picture below).  We had other family members stay with us for several nights and we enjoyed their visits.  One of the problems with me feeling so good, is that I go and go until I’ve overdone.  But hey, it feels so good to finally be among the living again.  The main problem still is the neuropathy in my feet!  It still feels like I am walking on pins and needles all the time!  They say that I need to give it 6 months to a year and if it doesn’t go away then, then it is permanent.  We are hoping for a total recovery.

 

I have mentioned before that I was losing my fingernails with my chemo.  This last week I lightly smashed my finger between two bowls, but didn’t think a thing of it.  Until Sunday morning when I woke up, it was completely swollen and green.  I knew instantly that it was infected and I had been up during the night with it throbbing like a toothache.  So Craig and I went to Urgent Care to see what we needed to do about it.  I am not a doctor going kind of person at all, but when it comes to my compromised immune system, I have to be extra careful.

Urgent Care was swamped with people and after 1 1/2 hours, when the nurse saw my finger, she said that this was too serious for them to tackle.  She told me to go to the Emergency Room and they would probably have to “fillet” my finger open and probably take off my nail to get to the infection.  She also said that they would probably need to put me on an IV antibiotic.  UGH!  I told her that I had a grand baby being blessed in an hour and asked if she thought it could wait until after.  She said “YES!”  So off we went to the blessing. 

At the church, Craig talked to Steve’s father, Mark Rindlisbacher who is a podiatrist and asked him if he would look at my finger.  After seeing the condition it was in, he offered to “help” me get rid of the infection at home.  He said he had brought his stuff with him and could give me a shot to numb my finger and then drill the nail to relieve the pressure.  I decided I would rather do that, instead of spend the next 4-6 hours in the emergency room. 

Here are some pictures of my infected finger, then me getting the shot to numb my finger, then drilling my fingernail, then the release of the infection.  So cool!

 

For the viewing pleasure of those of you who like gross, graphic things, below are 2 short videos of Mark working on my nail and the infection oozing out!  :-)

Michele's Infected Finger

Thanks to Mark and his doctoring, I was able to feel immediate relief and stay for the family dinner.  I called my doctor the next day, thinking I might need to get an antibiotic, but since I had been soaking my finger in betadine (a disinfectant that doctors use) several times a day, the infection was totally going away.  What a blessing.  My finger is almost as good as new now, just a little orange.