Friday, May 09, 2014

Hey, I'm Back! Thank You Johns Hopkins!

Well, here I am again.  I had to drop off of my blog universe because of a mysterious series of leg wounds that would not heal.  It took over a year and lots of narcotic pain killers to get me back to "life" again.


Just think.. I could not lay down for a whole year and I was in pain levels 9 or 10 without medication and in pain levels 5 or 6 even with drugs. Because the drugs were there just to kill the pain and not to get "high", I did not have the usual reactions of a "druggie," and could drive and function more or less like a normal person.

After the local hospital continued to debride (read: cut into, to force healing) my wounds even when it was just making them worse, a change of location to the world-famous Johns Hopkins Hospital was considered and made.  I should have done so a lot earlier. 


At Hopkins, my life was "resurrected" (appropriately) by a Doctor Lazarus, unquestionably the greatest wound care specialist in the world.  He found that I was suffering from an inherited venal problem.  Concentrating on fixing veins and not continuing to dig holes in my legs worked to clear up my wounds.  Believe me.. I love that  man and his extremely competent nursing assistants.


In addition, my partner, Elaine, kept me following the doctor's orders on medication, bandaging, and showing up for many, many appointments 40 miles away at Bayview.  She was an excellent nurse, even when I was one grouchy "son of a bitch.'  I don't think I would be here  today if she hadn't helped me so much.


Let me be clear... debriding usually works for normal wounds, and our local hospital has a very competent wound care staff.  However, in my opinion, local hospitals don't get the vastly different types of wounds to care for that would be encountered in a hospital like Hopkins that services patients from all over the world. World famous doctors like Doctor Lazarus are probably found only at World Famous hospitals.  We are extremely lucky to have Hopkins nearby as well as other great hospitals like the one attached to the University of Maryland.


And, of course, what about Shock Trauma.  Both of my daughters are alive today because of trips to the hospital on Shock Trauma helicopters!


The Great Courses company has a History of Medicine course that I have in my collection.  The last chapter of that course concerns the creation of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.  We owe the establishment of this great institution to the fund-raising activity of Baltimore women, who agreed to fund the school if women would be allowed to study and graduate there.  It took lots of years for other medical schools to see the wisdom of what Baltimore male doctors figured out right away.


By the way, I had a cancerous growth removed from my face two weeks ago.  It was done by a female doctor who stitched the hole up so that nobody can see where the growth was.  I can't believe that a man could do as well.  (Does that sound sexist?)


Finally, I would suggest:  if you have a wound anywhere on your body that does not heal in a short period of time, visit a wound care center in a hospital.. stick with your local hospital... but... if you do not see improvement in a while, consider Hopkins in Baltimore, Maryland.

No comments: