Earthly Gardener: Where the heck have I BEEN?

Wednesday, August 10, 2016

Where the heck have I BEEN?

Dear friends,

Some of you have wondered where I've been. Since posting about my flower bouquet back in February, I've had an unfortunate sequence of events, as Lemony Snicket would say.

I went into the hospital in late March for a "routine" surgery. Eleven days later I had a raging infection, was rushed back into emergency surgery to "scrape out the oogie bits," two days in a row I had surgeries. Yes, three surgeries in less than three weeks! I ended back in the hospital for five more days until I was stable enough to go home.

I was sent home with a strange contraption called a WOUND VAC attached to me. In my drugged state, I saw the name of the thing, the Vaculta, as VACULA, and so I started calling it Count Vacula. It literally was a huge sponge thingy crammed into my massive lower abdomen wound, with constant suction provided by a pump I had to wear around my neck or near my person for four months. It was a mess, I was instructed not to let it leak, I was encased in horrible allergenic adhesives and huge pieces of sticky stuff from my belly button to god-knows-where. The pump would ramp up and "purr" when happy, but make horrible noises when not, usually after midnight.

But, Dear Reader, I survived! I've learned much more about wounds, scabs and scars than I ever thought I'd have to, I learned how wonderful home health care nurses can be over their 25+ visits here, three times a week to change the toxic bandages until I was almost healed. I learned how many infections happen in hospitals these days (WAY TOO MANY!), and how many people die from them. Sigh.

Oh yeah, and how many hospitals DO NOT report these like they're supposed to!

I'm just now, almost five months later, able to go outside and water my container garden. I can't pick up things, dig things or stay outside in this Godforsaken Texas heat for more than a few minutes.

Needless to say, it's made me more motivated than ever to downsize the yard maintenance and continue my experiments with growing things in containers closer to the house and water supply.