No More Florida for Now

This picture is the view from our front
porch as the sun sets in Ft. Myers
during March. We will not be seeing it any more this season. I feel so gypped this year. What started out to be five or six months turned into three and a half months of trying to find a doctor who could give us some insight into why an old carotid artery surgical scar would suddenly start opening up and bulging outward. We attempted to see a doctor in an ER, but he didn't want to touch it in the ER where there are nasty germs, because the scar was so close to the carotid artery. Other doctors didn't want to see new patients, since snowbirds overtax the medical establishment of southern Florida and spring breakers are added to the upset. Finally, a nice doctor twenty miles up the road said he would see me in April, but I should go to Urgent Care and have some tests ordered from there. A really cute doctor looked at my neck and said, "Hmmm! I really don't know what to think of that! But, there is a vascular surgeon's office in this building --- I'll ask her to have a look at you." She looked, told him what to order and when she had looked at the CAT Scan the next afternoon, she called us. We were eating dinner at a local restaurant. Talk about co-operation --- she wasn't even our doctor, but she was adamant that we drop everything and fly home to Ohio. We knew we couldn't get a flight during Spring Break, so we closed up our home, put down the Hurricane Shutters, turned off the water, cleaned out the fridge, packed up our suitcases, grabbed the golf clubs and sewing machine and headed for home within sixteen hours. Imagine two "golden oldies" driving for nineteen hours straight and still able to function. We did ---but, we're not really hitting on all cylinders. We called my vascular guy and he was less than excited, but then, he had not seen the CAT scans. On Monday, he took me to surgery to evacuate an abscess of the surgical site. How does a three year old surgery develop an abscess? Turns out this sucker had been in there all the time, had invaded the muscle and all the way down to my carotid graft. This was done while I was wide awake with Lidocaine to numb my neck. I felt silly having an entire operating room for a little neck thingy. I believe the thinking was that it was a little nothing, but they had to have I.V.'s and all--- just in case my carotid blew. (By the way --- never have your neck operated on while you are awake! It was awful!) For now, I wait and my family waits --- for the biopsies and cultures to come back. We wait for the original CAT Scans to arrive from Florida; for the infectious disease doctor to see the results of this surgery. My vascular doctor is an amazing man who does things that have people coming from all over to see him in this jerk-water town, but he doesn't know what to do now, because he has never had anything like this happen after over a thousand carotid surgeries.
I would be lying if I said that I am not afraid, but I am trusting God to be with me and my family. If you are a regular reader ---Please, pray for us. I do so want to see Florida again. I do so want more time with my husband and family. I haven't finished enough quilts for all my grandkids. But, if it is time ---"It is Well with My Soul".