Friday, April 18, 2014

Dress Like Your Bird Day

4 days ago (before toenail surgery) we had very warm weather. So I wanted to take my cockatiel Kiwi for a walk outside in the sunshine.  I would never consider letting him outside without a flight prevention harness.  Fortunately we ordered from Avian Fashions a 'flight suit' (harness attached to a birdy diaper garment) even before we brought Kiwi to live with us. After less than a week of getting Kiwi accustomed to seeing the flight suit, he began playing with it (chewing on and dragging it around his play table).  So we thought he would be ready to wear the flight suit.  He resisted every attempt to put him into the suit.  At one point he even stopped playing with the suit. However some touch training and millet rewards got him more comfortable with the garment.  However, with my hand recovering from injuries from the cast for my fractured elbow, I needed an extra pair of hands to get Kiwi into the flight suit. With my husband's help we got Kiwi ready to see the world outside our house. in his flight suit.


Because the weather was so sunny, I dressed in yellow jeans, tee, sweater and a straw hat with an orange band.  I wore Kiwi's colors!  After we got him into his orange flight suit, we took him outside immediately so that he would associate the flight suit with a good experience.  After a little pruning (a blueberry bush) in the front yard with him attached to my shoulder with harness, we decided to walk around the block twice to let Kiwi see new things and hear new sounds.   


Although Kiwi ate lots of millet (his favorite seed treat) as reward for getting into the flight suit, we needed lunch. So we went home, had lunch and set out for another walk this time around Greenlake.  We had just walked to the business area (restaurants) near the lake, when someone wanted to take a picture of me in my sunny yellow outfit. I told her today was 'dress like your bird day'.  Then she saw Kiwi and wanted to take several pictures.  So after we returned home I asked my husband to take more pics on my camera.  You can barely see Kiwi's flight suit, because it closes in back and attaches to the lanierd leash in back, but you can see the orange leash (which attaches to his flight suit) around my neck.  That should really be called an 'antiflight suit', beause he tried to fly off me, but only got as far as my wrist.


He wore the flight suit for almost 3 hours. The inserted diaper (cotton wafer) absorbed guano very well.  I feared we'd need to wash the flight suit, but the diaper protected it well and slipped out easily.  I hope Kiwi asociates the flight suit with good experiences.  He was 'cruising' on my shoulder as I walked the lake. Most of the time he was cuddling next to my cheek.  Sometimes he closed his eyes, but I suspect the wind bothered his eyes.  Nevertheless he was glad to get out of the flight suit.  I just hope he will tolerate it the next time we have a sunny day (and my toe surgery has healed enough for me to walk).



Thursday, April 17, 2014

Toenail Treatment Finale Part 1

After years of unsuccessful treatments for toenail fungus, including grinding, removing the toenails (which grew back with fungus), and soaking daily in Listerine, I finally successfully treated the fungus on my 2 big toenails with daily applications of oil of geranium mixed with DMSO.  A year of that treatment eliminated the fungus so that the toenails would regrow normally. Unfortunately during all the years when I had thick, fungus laden toenails, I developed bone spurs on the ends of my toes from pressure from toenails.  So the 'healthy' toenails could only grow into the fleshy, bone spurred ends of my toes and become 'ingrown'.


One podiatrist suggested I could either (1) keep trimming the nails as best I could or (2) have the toenail and matrix (envelope holding the nail) completely removed so that the nail would not grow back or (3) get the bone spur removed and flesh tucked to allow room for the nail to regrow naturally.  Option 3 sounded most promising for healthy looking nails.  However, that meant major inflammation and recovery after surgery.  Nevertheless, I planned to pursue that option with that doctor UNTIL I discovered he wasn't covered under my medicare plan.  I didn't want to pay for surgery outa pocket.  So I got a referral for a doc who was in network. 


The new doc saw the x-rays taken by the previous podiatrist, when I saw him 4 months later. However, he said the toenails were already looking ingrown and removing the bone spur may not cause normal regrowth.  The toenails had been damaged in the original accident and then later removed by an inept podiatrist who didn't remove the matrix, but only removed the toenail which grew back with fungus.  With that much injury and that much passage of time the new doc thought regrowing normal toenails was not possible.  He suggested option 2 (complete matricectomy), which would prevent toenail growout.  That would still require surgery, but not as complicated. 


So after enduring 2 more months of ingrown toenails (and daily application of analgesic ointment), yesterday I had a total matricectomy on my left big toenail.  The anesthetic prevented me from feeling anything beyond pressure.  However, I was advised to elevate my foot as often as possible for the next few days above my heart level to prevent swelling and more bleeding. Unfortunately I had to walk a long ways to my husband's car in the clinic lot. Then I had to walk up 2 flights of  stairs into our house.  By that time my toe was throbbing. So I took another tylenol (my 3rd for the day with my upper limit of 5 daily) and propped up my foot.  However, getting to sleep with my left foot propped up and my left arm propped on pillows and ice bags was almost impossible.  I finally gave up about 4am and read for another hour before rearranging the pillows and blankets and finally drifting off to sleep for a few hours before I had to get up and take care of my bird. Hopefully I can sleep better tonight.  At least I had my foot elevated for about 8 hours last night. 


The good news is that I may be able to walk around after a few more days. I will return to the clinic to have the dressing changed next week. The dressing look pretty bad now, but my sandle hides the worst blood stains.  The bad news is that I have to endure the same surgery on my other toe (right foot) next month.  Hopefully the first toe and my fractured elbow will have healed enough to make the second matricectomy process go more smoothly.

Non-displaced Fracture of Olecranon

On March 21 I fell and fractured my elbow.  My husband and I were walking home from a restaurant near our house. He turned to say something and tripped me with his foot. I fell in front of him and tripped him with my body. Fortunately he wasn't injured, but I suspected I broke my elbow.  Later that day x-rays confirmed a non-displaced olecranon fracture. Urgent care personnel splinted my arm from upper arm to fingertips and gave me an oversized sling, because they didn't believe the smaller size would fit.  2 days later I returned, because the splint was wrapped so tightly that my fingers were swollen and tingly.  Also the sling kept falling off and my splint slipped out within a minute after tightening straps.  They rewrapped the splint, which relieved finger symptoms, but refused to give me a smaller sling. I wore the splint for 5 days before returning to get a cast.


I was pleased with my pink cast, but still couldn't get a properly fitting sling. Like urgent care personnel, the ortho doc and assistants blamed us for not adjusting the oversized sling often enough (every 60 seconds???)  I experienced the same 'blame the victim' treatment when my cast was removed.  X-rays showed that my fracture had developed a soft callous long the fracture line/ However my fingers, hand, wrist and forearm were swollen to twice the normal size.  The tech would wrapped and set my cast had not put enough padding around my bony hand and wrist.  I have always bruised easily and am taking horsechestnut for venous insufficiency.  However, I suspect the overly large sling forced me to bear the weight of the cast on my hand/wrist/forearm.  Nevertheless the doc and tech tried to blame me for not raising my arm often enough (false).  Then the doc said the 'hematoma' (swollen bruised parts) resulted from the elbow injury (false).  He also thought I injured my hand/wrist in the initial fall, but my hand/wrist was normal 5 days after the fall, before I got the cast without much padding outside the elbow area.


They initially rewrapped my arm in a removeable splint and told me to exercise my elbow w/o the splint 4 hours daily. However, the splint exacerbated pain from my badly bruised hand/wrist/arm.  After 10 minutes of pain, I returned and asked them to reconsider the splint.  Instead they gave me a brace with velcro straps.  The good news was they gave me a size small sling which fit my arm perfectly with the splint.  The bad news was the brace was too big for the small sling.  So I was left with the original oversized sling.  After 3 days of more pain an swelling from the brace pressing bruises, I realized my bruises would heal better w/o the brace.  I could also exercise my elbow more often Unfortunately someone bumped my elbow a few times a few days later, but x-rays showed no new fractures or obvious displacement.


When my hand was sooo badly swollen with bruises, I discovered that aloe vera gel helped heal bruises and reduce swelling.  Now over a week later, my left hand almost looks like the right hand of the unfractured arm.  I have also recovered more range of motion with daily use of my elbow. I continue to ice the elbow at meals and at night, but still need to reguarly take tylenol for pain.  (I can't tolerate NSAIDs or narcotic pain meds and have to limit tylenol to no more than 5 daily, because I don't weigh as much as the 'average' adult and can overdose on the recommended no more than  6 daily limit (as I experienced after oral surgery last year).


I see my ortho doc again next week to check elbow healing progress with x-ray.  He wanted me to begin physical therapy, but I had to cancel the appointment because I can barely walk now. I had a total matricectomy on my left big toenail yesterday. My toe is wrapped in gauze to control bleeding, but I also need to keep it elevated as often as possible for at least the next 2 days.  I'm doing pt on my elbow with daily activities as well as recommended rotational exercises throughout the day.