Training Log Archive: blIn the 7 days ending Mar 14, 2020: |
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Saturday Mar 14, 2020 #
Note
We drove home from NE Rehab around noon. It was a sunny, bright, blustery quintessential March day. A good day to be out of hock. Beth asked if there was any thing I wanted to do before our arriving at our driveway. We were coming on to Rosewood La. so I suggested we turn on it. My medical ARNP at the rehab lives on it. It’s on the Nottingcook O map. We’re neighbors in the sense that one could travel from house to house by forest or road. She uses the forest a lot but knew nothing about orienteering. Rosewood was a lot longer than I recalled. I don’t think I’d been there since mapping in ’07.
Next were Peasley Estates which had not been developed in ’07 - now there are nearly 30 houses where lovely O terrain once was. I believe a BG ’09 point was close to the end of the then non-existent Summer Road, now in the shadow of houses.
Finally Hope La. which, at the end, has a trail into Nottingcook (connecting to Peasley) named Lyford Tr. Adjacent to Peasley, the Lyfords live(d?) in a deck house much like ours in Carlisle c. 1992-4. I knocked on their door one winter day in ’06, seeking permission to map their property. That was granted but I learned they’d just negotiated a P&S on the land that was to become Peasley Estates . Had they been conservation-minded people, the woods would have remained inviolate. All the difference.
At home, it was about developing confidence with and without the walker on all different surfaces versus easy flat, linoleum-surfaced corridors.
To end my first day out of hock, I drove over to Kimball Pond, that in itself a learning experience . Walker in trunk (not to mention negotiating buying gas for an empty tank), mobilize car, and using car body as a sole balance point etc. It was around 6pm by the time I got there. It was windy and too cold. I had in mind 200 m walking but didn’t manage nearly that. Just too biting.
Next were Peasley Estates which had not been developed in ’07 - now there are nearly 30 houses where lovely O terrain once was. I believe a BG ’09 point was close to the end of the then non-existent Summer Road, now in the shadow of houses.
Finally Hope La. which, at the end, has a trail into Nottingcook (connecting to Peasley) named Lyford Tr. Adjacent to Peasley, the Lyfords live(d?) in a deck house much like ours in Carlisle c. 1992-4. I knocked on their door one winter day in ’06, seeking permission to map their property. That was granted but I learned they’d just negotiated a P&S on the land that was to become Peasley Estates . Had they been conservation-minded people, the woods would have remained inviolate. All the difference.
At home, it was about developing confidence with and without the walker on all different surfaces versus easy flat, linoleum-surfaced corridors.
To end my first day out of hock, I drove over to Kimball Pond, that in itself a learning experience . Walker in trunk (not to mention negotiating buying gas for an empty tank), mobilize car, and using car body as a sole balance point etc. It was around 6pm by the time I got there. It was windy and too cold. I had in mind 200 m walking but didn’t manage nearly that. Just too biting.
Friday Mar 13, 2020 #
Note
I will be discharged home from Northeast Rehab in Manchester tomorrow. This will end 47 inpatient nights between 11/22 and 3/13 at Concord Hospital, Mass General and NE Rehab. 32 were at MGH, the second admission being 3 weeks long to the day - Valentine’s Day to March 6th. I had a 10 hour surgery on 2/19 for spinal stenosis/compression at multiple levels due to sequellae of vertebral osteomyelitis/disciitis. I now have two fusions, from T2 to T8 and from T12 to L5.
Definitely life-altering, time will tell how much . At the rehab, I was basically gaining proficiency with a walker and starting with a cane. I went to MGH on 2/14, afraid I’d be unable to get to the car. By 2/15, I was not able to stand, in part because I’d entered the sit-lie world of acute care but more so because my legs couldn’t do it…a combination of weakness and lack of coordination.
2019 was about increasing back pain always thought to be mechanical. There were no recurring signs of infection. Finally, on 11/22, I had an MRI of the lumbar spine which showed infection and was hospitalized to initiate IV antibiotic therapy. This eventually caused some nephritis and acute kidney injury which cleared when the antibiotics were stopped and then changed. However, it was not evident what organism was causing the infection until, during surgery, a culture of sufficient live organism sampling revealed what species of organism and which antibiotics might work. The chosen antibiotics didn't work, the infection got worse, surgery was required. Post-op, I am on 4 different antibiotics.
The big question, only answered this past Wednesday, is where did it come from, what caused it? Infectious disease at MGH told me that Chimaera, a non-tuberculous mycobacterium (MAC complex) species, grew from the culture. ID said it was a first at MGH, ie, I was the first patient to grow this organism in a culture. It was pointed out that Chimaera has been found in heart-lung bypass equipment. Vertebral osteomyelitis is not at all common in healthy individuals with no significant medical illnesses and on no “powerful” medications, eg, immunosuppressants.
The admitting Friday was Valentine's Day and the final night hospitalized and fourth Friday, Friday the 13th. Time may be more forthcoming with specific thoughts on the nature of acquiring this infection. Regardless though, it’s move ahead, literally one step at a time. I hope to be connected with orienteering in one fashion or another before long. But first things first, like fresh air!
Definitely life-altering, time will tell how much . At the rehab, I was basically gaining proficiency with a walker and starting with a cane. I went to MGH on 2/14, afraid I’d be unable to get to the car. By 2/15, I was not able to stand, in part because I’d entered the sit-lie world of acute care but more so because my legs couldn’t do it…a combination of weakness and lack of coordination.
2019 was about increasing back pain always thought to be mechanical. There were no recurring signs of infection. Finally, on 11/22, I had an MRI of the lumbar spine which showed infection and was hospitalized to initiate IV antibiotic therapy. This eventually caused some nephritis and acute kidney injury which cleared when the antibiotics were stopped and then changed. However, it was not evident what organism was causing the infection until, during surgery, a culture of sufficient live organism sampling revealed what species of organism and which antibiotics might work. The chosen antibiotics didn't work, the infection got worse, surgery was required. Post-op, I am on 4 different antibiotics.
The big question, only answered this past Wednesday, is where did it come from, what caused it? Infectious disease at MGH told me that Chimaera, a non-tuberculous mycobacterium (MAC complex) species, grew from the culture. ID said it was a first at MGH, ie, I was the first patient to grow this organism in a culture. It was pointed out that Chimaera has been found in heart-lung bypass equipment. Vertebral osteomyelitis is not at all common in healthy individuals with no significant medical illnesses and on no “powerful” medications, eg, immunosuppressants.
The admitting Friday was Valentine's Day and the final night hospitalized and fourth Friday, Friday the 13th. Time may be more forthcoming with specific thoughts on the nature of acquiring this infection. Regardless though, it’s move ahead, literally one step at a time. I hope to be connected with orienteering in one fashion or another before long. But first things first, like fresh air!