Merry Christmas

Christmas is over for this year. As we had our official gift exchange with the family last October, Laura and I had a quiet day.

Yesterday, we went to Normas house for a quiet get together of the Mohr siblings. Living in Florida. Jane, Wonald, Norma, and Janice. Also present were Don and Buford. We enjoyed Prime Rib, coffee cake and other stuff.

This past week was spent exercising the knee, riding the cpm machine, and generally strengthening the knee.

Today, we went to Dr Dew, who removed the remaining staples, and said I could shower or go in the pool starting tomorrow. More tomorrow.

Sent from my iPhone.
Sorry for any typos.

Sent from my iPhone.
Sorry for any typos.

Sent from my iPhone.
Sorry for any typos.

Knee with half of staples removed

How the knee looks right now/with bandages

New knee prosthesis side view

Front view new knee prosthesis

Laura Halloween 1st place

Halloween picture Ron , 2nd Place

Moving forward

This morning, we were visited by our Pt, who put me through the mill. The most painful exercise is the straightening one for the knee. Most of the others are no problem. Carol(the Pt) has determined my knee angle to be 103 degrees which is pretty good. The goal is 120 degrees. So far, I have reached 108 degrees on the cpm.

Today, we also visited the surgeon, Dr Dew. They removed the bandage, which had been on for a week with very little leakage. They then removed about half of the staples(about 15) and put short bandages on the rest. They took x-rays of the knee and then their technician used our I-pod to take pictures of the unbandaged knee and the x-rays. Now I have to get with Heidi to get these pictures into the blog along some Halloween pictures. Just think, soon you will have your own pictures of my knee.

He told us we could put full wt on the knee and use crutches rather than the walker and. To come back in a week

So we are doing well so far in our search for a new functional knee.

Tomorrow is my birthday and since I lost the last year, I am considering making it my 70th

What do you think about that?

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Home Life

it looks like Fridays message was aborted somehow. This one is being done on a real computer which is easier and faster.

After we got home on Tuesday, a cpm machine was delivered followed by a pt and her assistant(to set it up and adjust it for me). We started out at 85 degrees flex of the knee. The visiting nurse basically took vitals, and background info. She will be back next week to draw blood samples for the Gp visit coming up. The PT took me through the exercises, and how to use the cpm.

Thursday, we were pretty much confined to exercises and cpm work.

Friday, we did some exercises, some cpm time and then went to the Sr Center for some music, followed by a trip to Ormond Beach to pick up Lauras' new hearing aid, followed by meeting Janice and Norma for fish at Alfies.

Guess who is not supposed to shower, or drive. Guess who took a shower and drove Luara to Ormond. We learned a ong time ago how to protect a knee(or Picc) against getting wet in the shower, so no problem. We used to have to protect both areas, so just one knee is easy.

Driving is no problem as everything is done with the right foot. Sleeping is not really a problem, although only a few sleeping positions are comfortable. This wll get better in time.

Today, being Saturday, we are not going anywhere, just staying home, exercising, cpm ing and catching up on some of our paperwork, etc.

I have pain pills which are being used sparingly. We are amazed at how smoothly and easily this situation is going. I use the walker to get up and down from the cpm, and the crutches for walking.

We go to see the surgeon on Monday afternon. To date we have no real guidance as to how much wt should be put on the new knee. We have about 30 staples still in the knee, but not causing any trouble.

On the cpm we have told by the pt that they want me to reach 120 degrees of bend.ing. I have already been as high as 104.

although done on my computer, some mistakes pop up, no excuses.

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Sorry for any typos.

Home again

We checked out of the hospital about 10:00 am and after a prescription stop, arrived home in Hermits Cove about 12:00 noon. We will be having homecare to make sure I do my exercises, as well as providing a cpm machine. We are on our way.

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Going Home

It is 6 pm, Monday, Dec 13 and we have just been informed that we can go home tonight or tomorrow morning. Since it usually takes several hours to get all of the discharge papers together, and we have to stop and pick up some prescriptions, we would not arrive home until 10:00 or so, and it would be bedtime. It would be easier to do this in the morning, so that is what we have chosen to do.

Today, we had another pint of blood, walked some, rode the cpm.

At this point, I feel great, all of my vital signs are good, and I am looking forward to enjoying life again. The Dr says it usually takes 4weeks to work through the walker stage. Since I seem to be ahead of the normal pace, perhaps I will be walking sooner.

At any rate, World, here I come!

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Greetings from room 8017 of the luxury Flagler Hospital in St Augustine Florida

Yesterday was fairly eventful. The pain pump was removed, and a pint of blood was put in. I did two walks of 150 and 250 ft, using a walker. Now I have no extra cords or tubes to worry about. I also did two stints on the cpm machine , which means, I think, "continous progressive movement. Any way, your knee gets strapped into this device and it moves back and forth, forcing the knee to bend to two prescribed angles, mine being 0 and 85 degrees. The machine looks formidable , but it really is a pussycat. I use it for two hours at a time, and always have full control. I can adjust the angle up or down or push a button to instantly release the pressure.

Today we did the 250 ft walk and then a shorter walk, which also included going up and down steps. The significance of this activity was that It was done without the knee support brace. One more support item gone.

All of the Drs and their reps were in over the weekend, and all asked about my plans. When told I did Not know, it was up to my surgeon, Dr Dew, they all indicated that I seemed ready to go. So hopefully, tomorrow is the day.

We are still learning how to use this neat little device that Heidi gave us. The next project is learning how to quickly transfer photos, which we have some we want to share.

Time to wrap this up and look forward to enjoying life without crutches.

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another walk this afternoon, 250 ft. Also spent 2 hours on cpm machine which flexes the knee in both directions

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Latest update from Flagler Hospital in St Augustine Florida

Just a few minutes ago, all bandages and drain tubes were removed from my Newly repaired knee. It was rebandaged and looks good.

We did our therapy, which included 150-200 ft of walking with a walker, which is better than most people do at this point. We are waiting the arrival of PTs so can do the PM therapy.

The painblock is effective so pain so far is not too bad.

This our first effort to update the blog and if it works, great.

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Sorry for any typos.

Sent from my iPhone.
Sorry for any typos.

Dad's surgery went fine

I talked to mom about an hour ago and his surgery went well and he is resting comfortably(?) in his room.

He is in room 8017 of Flagler hospital. He has his cell phone with him and mom is likely in his room with hers as well.

Will update as further news is available.

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The last chapter

As I am writing this, I am waiting for the hospital to call to verify some information. We went through the chemical stress test, the testing of the carotid arteries for blockages. none found. We do have this little problem of atrial fibrillation, which is being taken care of by drugs. I can never feel it but I guess I have it. The biggest danger with this is that there is always the possiblity of a blood clot forming and traveling to the brain and asing a stroke.

Anyway, we have cleared all of the hurdles, and surgery to install a new full knee replacement is presently scheduled for 9:45 AM Thursday morning, the 9th day of December. Wish me well.

The cold weather(29-32 degrees in the morning, high 40's) is slowing down our outside work, but we have still kept busy.

We were going to make another trip to Seaworld, and Busch Gardens, but since the Real seasony stuff does not occur until later in the month we may not manage, pending the mobility situation.

We went to the Jacksonville lighted boat parade, which was excellent with about 80 boats patricipating. We also did the Palatka boat parade which only had 14 boats, but they were also well done.

Jane was at Thanksgiving at Normas', but apparently not feeling well, as she put herself into the hospital on Saturday. We visited on Sunday and she was doing better and went home on Monday. We saw her yesterday, and she appeared to be fine.

Later this afternoon , we are going to Alfies to help celebrate Janices birthday. Two weeks from today is mine. lets hope we are not in a hospital this time. Until next time, everybody have a good holiday season and we will be in touch. Since Heidi can access this blog, we will probably have her post a few words as to our progress over the next week.

More Updating

I did not mean to imply that Life is all bad by yesterdays comment about the last year being a nightmare. In fact, quite the opposite is true.

I neglected to mention that during October, Laura celebrated her 70th Birthday on the 10th, and we celebrated 49 years together on the 27th of October.

Lester and Sue went back to Mayville yesterday and they will return in early January. There is a possibility that Ray and Luella will come down for a while and they will stay in our motorhome
which has been somewhat neglected during the past year.

During our free time prior to the surgery, we plan to go back to Seaworld, then Busch Gardens. We will also do some of the maintenance work around here, since I am the most mobile since last year.

We have a Thanksgiving Dinner at the Senior Citizens today and Thursday, we go to Normas.

Have a good Holiday everyone.

catching up again

Hard to believe Oct 18 was last report.

We have been very busy, at times, and in general have enjoyed very nice weather. The AC was used a little, as was the furnace, which developed a little problem, which was quickly resolved. It is great to let mother nature provide the heat during the day and cool things down at night, so sleeping is easy.

Before Lester and Sue got here, we took criket to the air show at Jacksonville Naval Air Station.
The Blue Angels were sensational, there was a jet truck that did 300 mph, and lots of stationary planes. The show was excellent, and there was only one problem. 100,000 people trying to get out of a packed limited access military installation at the same time. We sat for an hour in line without moving one inch, and it took 2 hours total to get out. At the time it was frustrating, but it still was enjoyable.

With Lester and Sue here we have been on the road a lot. We went to Volusia County Fair and watched/listened to Brenda Lee, who is now 65 like the rest of us. She put on a interesting show for the old folks.

!We went to Seaworld one day, they have a new bably killer whale (one month old) who was swimming around with its mother. We finally learned what the different critter is that is part of the Blue Horizon dolphin show. It is longer and thinner than the dolphins and darker in color. For those who are interested, it is something called a false killer whale.

We have been to numerous flea markets, and several home shows.

The music scene is firing up again with the return of the musical snowbirds. Between the Senior Center and Jay opening up Lou's Ponderosa again, we have jam sessions twice a week. We just attended River Fest in Ormond Beach, and earlier we attended the Jamboree at Barberville. It took us a while to find it but there is lots of of our kind of music in this part of Florida.

We got the tire problem on the boat trailer resolved, and checked the motor out, bought a new depth finder, cleaned up the boat and dumped it in the water. It is behaving very well, but for some reason, alligators are hard to find. We did do some shrimping but they are basically gone and it takes a lot of throws of the casting net to get enough shrimp to eat.

When we got here we checked with the surgeon who took x-rays and said to go ahead and use the knee, excercise it and come back in 3-4 weeks. I was able to walk some in a very wobbly fashion, which still felt great to do. It has been 5 weeks and we went back to him today. Let me preface this with the fact using the knee did not work, it started to hurt in some situations, and about the 1st of November, it became more and more obvious that "it is time". The x-rays showed that additional deterioriation was taking place and he said " Do you want to do it before or after Christmas". We said "before'

Surgery to install a new knee joint is now scheduled for Dec 9. He said I will be in the hospital for 4-5 days and then recommends going home for rehab (to stay as far away from other people who may be housing "bugs"). So now, on Wed, we have to go to St Augustine to see a heart Dr, our own GP DR , and have bloodwork done. In the morning we have an appointment in Palatka to have Lauras' ear canals cleaned out so she can hear again.

Assuming no problems show up in the blood tests and pre -opt, we go back to the surgeon on Dec 7 for paper signing, etc. Then we go back to St Augustine to pre-register with the hospital, then the surgery on Dec 9. Wish me luck on this because if we have any problems that cannot be rectified in time, the next available surgery date will be Jan13. I do not want to wait that long but whatever happens, happens.

This whole deal started Dec 18, 2009, so whatever happens, it means I will have gone, in essence, a full year without being able to walk. I am ready to walk.

Before I finally updated this thing, I looked at Kat-nap and Mohr Life. There are some beautiful pictures of all of the kids. If you have not been reading these blogs, you should do s

I promise to keep readers of this blog informed of our progress through the steps that are (hopefully) going to end this nightmare.

Busy, Busy Busy

It has been several weeks since we last wote. Thanks to Heidi for aleting you to our safe arrival in Satsuma.

During the last week of September we were really busy, getting ready to come to Florida. Lakeside and the Vikings were done by the middle of the month. While shutting down Ripley, we managed to have our early Christmas at Heidi's on the 24th, our last physicals with Dr Bodkin on the27th, had my broken tooth crowned on the 28th, had a trailer tire repaired, and then endured what seemed like 10 days of cold and rain to load the trailer and car. We got everthing together and left Ripley about 11:00 Wenesday morning, the 6th of October. After about 3 hours of travel in the rain, it stopped, and we haven't seen any since. Nothing but warmer weather and sunshine.

No problems on the road, we stopped at lexington, Kentucky. The next morning we completed the trip to Clinton, Tennessee, which is about 25 miles North of Knoxville. We went to the motel, we had reserved and left Ki-Ki and some of our stuff at the motel. (as I am writing this, I am monitoring the Jaquar- Titan game. It is now 17-0, in favor of the Titans and Trent Edwards, formerly of the Bills is now quarterbacking for Jacksonville)

After checking in at the motel we went to the Appalachia Museum, where hundreds of school children were enjoying the music and special events. We were surprised when we uncovered the trailer and then the Criket to find a full grown yellow cat sitting on the Criket. With Heidi's help we learned there was a vet right across the street. We had them check for a chip but no luck. Anyway , we still have that cat which has turned out to be a nice animal. I guess we are adopting it.

After 3 nice days, of music and sunshine we left Sunday afternoon about 3;00 and headed towards Augusta, Georgia, winding up in Newberry S. Carolina. Monday we went to Augusta to visit Ricks specialty vehicles, where Crikets are made and sold. It was very interesting and informative. It turns out that Rick was at a video shoot with Jim Kelly of the Bills. Rick had customized a Criket which was sold/auctioned to benefit Jims Camp Fund. Jim also had one customized for Jill. We have a picture of the one that was sold/auctioned and it was very nicely done. On the way out of Augustus, we had and overheating caliper on the right front. We stopped at a transmission place and they went overboard to replace the caliper, at a reasonable price and sent us on our way. This delayed us enough so that we arrived here about 9:00 that night.

We have things together, water on, hot water on, phone on, and part of the reason for the timing of this update, was the lack of internet. It was supposed to have been on Wed, but was not completed until last night. I love AT &T. Now I can catch up on paying bills, etc. Heidi gave us her old I-Phone 3 and we have been enjoying it. Soon we will try to send pictures.

One of the boat trailer tires was flat and we are struggling to get it fixed so we can get the boat into the water so we can catch some shrimp while they are still running.

Today, we went to see the orthopedic surgeon and he was surprised at how good I was, physically. He took x-rays and said the plastic piece was holding up very well, and depending on how things go, I might be able to go a long time without having surgery. So we are going to exercise it with water aoerbics, and riding the stationary bike. and see what happens after 4 weeks. We have been careful not to cause a problem requiring a quick trip for surgery. So we shall see what happens.

We had fish at Alfies last Saturday, with Jane , Norma and Buford. Janice could not join us but eventually we will get together.

Hopefully, our reports will be more timely in the future, and we try to include pictures. See you all soon.

Mom and dad are home

Just a quick update to let anyone reading know that mom and dad arrived in palatka safely yesterday. They had a slight brake caliper issue that they got fixed enroute. And they discovered a stowaway on board. Sure dad will be updating soon.

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still moving forward

We went to the Erie County Fair 3 different times. With the super good weather this year, over a million people attended. This is more than most of the State Fairs attract. Anyway, I neglected to inform everybody of the very unusual event that occurred on the way to the Fair. We had just picked up Lester and Sue and were on Plank Road, heading North, when a big black something was loping across the road. We all said"what is that?" and then realized it was a small to medium sized black bear. We were surprised to see this critter so close to home, and now we watch for it everytime we go through there.

As usual this past weekend was busy and typical. Thursday, Friday and Saturday were busy getting ready for the end of season pancake breakfast at Lakeside campground. After it was over , and some cleanup, we headed out to Buffalo to the flea market at Gex (Walden Ave), and some shopping, followed by a Fiddle Club Gig at Uncle Gs (formerly Cappys). Heidi and Kat came out and met a family with a 4 year old boy named Michael from Guatemala. Heidi and Kat are now in the loop of other families in the area with children from Guatemala.

Then, after the gig we visited with Wally and Joan Tanner, who live very close. Then to Heidis' house to spend the night and in the morning, assisting Heidi and Dan to get ready for the open house, which was quite a success. Then home via the Hamburg Casino, where I won $3.

The weekend before , we went to Crooks Farm in Bradford, Pa about a 70 mile drive where they had a musical event of ald time music. We were impressed with Saturday, but not so much on Sunday. Next year, Saturday only.

During the next week or so, we intend to complete shutting down Lakeside and the Vikings so we will only have Ripley to shut down.

Our present plans are to leave WNY on Oct 5th, staying in Tennesee for several days, arriving in Florida about the 11th or 12th of Oct. We will try to keep in touch and let you know what is happening.

Things are getting better

We went to the Dr in Amherst last week for a checkup and a review of the results of the latest bloodwork.

To summarize, my iron level is still going up, my blood results in general are improving, my kidney function stayed has remained the same , not completely normal, but a long way from requiring dialysis(sp). My weight is down from 219 to 208, and the knee hurts only ocasionally. In addition, I can walk on it sometimes, but I try not to abuse it. My waist size is now 38, down from 40". My general muscle tone and appearance have improved, and I no longer look like a scarecrow. I am eating well, sleeping well and in general feeling well. The Dr eliminated the lasix(water pill) and reduced the daily intake of one of the so called heart pills. So other than being unable to walk, I am very close to being the person I was before this all started last Dec 14.

I have started to accomplish some things, that I could not do before, such as wiring the new pole barn, crawling under "Criket" to adjust and repair its front running gear. Tomorrow, I will be installing new rotors and brake pads on the caravan. It is not easy to get up and down, but once in place I can do the work.

So it looks like we are going to meet our goal of staying in the North until early October and then work our way back to Florida to face the last phase of this operation, and resume a normal life once again.

We continue to be busy here in Ripley. We had a family reunion in early August. Mel and Greg and their boys, Scott and Chris, along with their girl friends Amy and Michelle were there, along with Carol Runkle from Colorado and Heidi and Kat, newly moved from Seattle, along with Esther and Ken from Bradford.

We just had our annual "TurkeyJam" here in Ripley, with musicians from Buffalo area and Pa. The group was small, because of the short notice and other activities going on, but everyone who attended had a great time , with many of them staying until 10:00 at night.

Laura and I have been utilizing "Criket" to the extent that we went to The Chautauqua County Fair, and the Erie County Fair in Hamburg(twice).

This past weekend we went to Lewiston to play with the Fiddlers at the lewiston Art Festival, attended Kats birthday party at Dereks, then spent the night at Dereks', so we were able to help Heidi move their stuff from Johns house in Buffalo to their new house in Amherst. Then we hurried back to Bemus Point for the final night of the Chautauqua County Idol, and spent the night at the Vikings. Today we did some shopping in Erie, and tonight we are in our bed in Ripley.

I am sure we missed some details, but in general, we are doing well and enjoying life as best we can with what we have. Will try not to take so long for the next report.

wow.here does the time go?

It has been 28 days since we last checked in and I apologize to those who still read this thing.

To summarize, we have been very busy and doing very well. I have regained most of my former charactistics. I am eating fairly well, sleeping well. building my body back up to what it used to be, and feeling pretty good. Other than not being able to walk, I am nearly normal again. At the present time it looks like we should be able to remain up here in the North until Early October and then head for Florida and the installation of the new knee that will make me whole again and improve our quality of life.

Did I mention we have been busy? The United Refinery (Kwik-Fill) has been getting rich from us, it seems we fill up every other day. We have been to Sanborn to play with the Fiddlers, went to the Springville and Waterford flea markets(thanks to Kriket). We went to the Buffalo Zoo with Shawn, Cheyenne, Charlotte, Grace, Eli and Alison and Liza.

We joined in the "Roar to the shore", which was a very large motorcycle event in Erie. They had a parade of motorcycles over 5000 strong, which was impressive. We have been to Presque Isle in Erie, several times. Kriket likes it there. We rode their tour boat out into Lake Erie, which was different, but very enjoyable.

We have been to St Vincents Hospital in Erie, to deliver, or pick up Lauras' Brother Ray. He has been dealing wi9th a kidney stone, and it appears that after multiple attempts, they finally found it and blasted it.

Then of course, Heidi and Kat came in from Seattle and we were there to get them to Johns house, where they have taken up temporary residence, until the house they purchased becomes theirs. They have a period of limbo to deal with before they can settle down.

You can read Katnaps to read about the last weekend and the violent weather we experienced. We had been informed by several concerned parties about approaching tornados, but nobody knew exactly what and where. We were on our way to the Dewittvile Fire Hall where all the people there had been sent to the basement. We later drove around and there was significant damage in Mayville and Dewittville, but it was not visible from the road.

We were lucky none of our properties were affected.

Sunday was family day at the Vikings. Kat, and Charlotte and Grace and Eli enjoyed the animals, fun and games. We have been enjoying the Chautauqua Idol at the floating stage in Bemus, and just got our 10th night in at the Vikings.

Upcoming is the Mohr Family Reunion at the Vikings, this Sunday, and next Saturday, we will host our annual garbage can turkey dinner for the local musicians.

We will try to report back a little sooner tha n 28 days, but!

Next week is the Cattaraugus County Fair , followed by the Erie County Fair.

Busy Times

The last week was typical of how things are going. Last Friday, we went to Amherst for Laura to see her eye doctor. They put in drops, took pictures, etc. She is developing cataracts, but surgery not needed for at least another year. Saturday was yard sale day in Jamestown, Sunday was flea market day at Waterford , Pa, (South of Erie).

Monday was my Dr visit in Amherst. Other people have been looking at my blood work info and making judgements about this and that. Dr Bodkin was pleased that I lost 3 more lbs, (down to 216). He said the kidney function is improving, and generally was satisfied with the information. Iron level is low, but not critical, overall, doing well, no prescription changes. come back in 5 weeks.

After that it was over to North Amherst for the pot luck supper(discussion of fathers day breakfast), spent the night at Dereks. Tuesday morning, joined Jeanie and Mike Caputi for breakfast at Friendlys, and then went to their house for a review of how to play pinocle., Then to the zoo, where we had all the grandchildren, except Kat.

From there, we did a few errands, and went home via the Hamburg Casino, where I won $13.

Yesterday, we picked up our new Dish 625 receiver and put it in, and have tv again(long story).


Since the 4th is a sunday, everybody is celebrating on Sat, the 3rd. . We have to be at the Vikings in the morning for the annual trailer association breakfast, then to Lakeside for the 4th of July picnic. Sunday is open right now, but we will find something to do.

Of course we had to go back to Amherst for the Fathers day breakfast. We stayed at Dereks on Saturday night. I worked the orange juice concession and poured 1100 cups of oj.

We have been back and forth so much, we are thankful for the cheaper pennysylvania gas and the Indians at Silver Creek. until next time.

Finally, we catch up

Sorry about the lack of info. a combination of things has kept me away.

Anyway, we received permission from all of our drs to come North for the summer. So we left and had such a good trip , we did it in two days, rather than three as originally planned. Ray and Luella were here to help unload all the stuff into the house. We have been busy, mowing the lawn, here and at the Vikings. We have spent 4 nights at the Vikings, and we are supposed to put in in at least 10. We do not know when our season ends. Generally, I have been doing ok, eating and sleeping better. We have been taking the Kricket to town wide yard sales, where it is easy to ride around and for me to see what is available to buy.

Derek and his family have beeen to the Vikings, so we have seen them, and we visited Jerry and Alision, and have seen Shawn and Cheyenne. We have been to some of the Fiddle Club events, and to to the casinos in Erie and Hamburg. We presently are going to only one Dr, Dr Bodkin in Amherst. All of them are getting results from our our blood work, so theoretically, every one is monitoring our progress.

Heidi is planning on returning to Buffalo, in July, so we will see Kat more often, as well as Heidi and Dan.

Depending upon conditions, I can walk unassisted for short periods, but am reluctant to do so, because, I am wearing out the cartilege on the other side of the knee, and and do not want to have to go back to Florida, until hopefully, October.

So I struggle with the crutches, use the wheelchair or the Kriket. Fortunately, driving is no problem, and I can drive all day. The biggest problem is getting in and out of the car.

I wll sure be glad to walk normally, or at least without help. It is amazing how difficult it is to do things, when you have only one good leg, and you cannot easily get up and down.

This weekeend is fathers Day and we are going to Buffalo, where we have a fiddle gig, and Laura wants to participate in the North Amherst Fathers Day Breakfast. We will be staying at Derek's house in Clarence.

So, for the most part, things are going reasonably well here in Ripley, NY.We are looking for better days eventually, however we are very much aware that others have things tougher than we do.

Did I mention that the boat is not going into the water this year, because I cannot even get into it. Oh well, we have a number of graduation parties to go to, so maybe we will see you at one of them. until next time.

Dad really needs to update his blog....

Sent from my iPhone. Sorry for any typos.

Mom and dad are home

Heidi here.

In the event that anyone is checking in to see If they're home, they are. They made it home in two days and Ray and Luella were there when they arrived to help them unload. And sue and Lester had gone over earlier to open the place up and turn stuff on for them.

So that's the update. They made it home without incident.

Now it's our turn. Current target is mid-July?

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Sorry for any typos.

we are coming home

yesterday, we saw Dr Dew and and he took x-rays and said to come back when neccessary. He said the other side of the bone that makes up the knee joint is now wearing and when/if the pain gets to be too much, it will be time to put in the the replacement.

This morning we saw the kidney specialist who verified that my kidneys are ok, and we do not need dialysis. he said I should be taking iron tablets because my iron is low. Otherwise, everything is fine, so go North if we want to. We then visited our new GP, Dr Burros, who agreed that things appear to be in pretty good shape, so we should be able to travel North, to come back and see him when we get back. So we have clearance to go North.

Now we have to decide what to take, what to leave, whether to pull the boat or leave it in the water. We have some lawn work to do and the the actual loading of the car and trailer. And the temperature is predicted for the low 90's.

We are not certain when we are leaving, but it will probably be over the weekend, and it may take 3 rather than 2 days. We also do not know how long we will be up North, but will figure that out later.

Possible good news

Today we went to St Augustine to see Dr #4, in our tangled mess. This was our third trip to St Augustine this week, and tomorrow, we go that way again.

Today,we visited Dr. Manacal, who is the infectious disease Doctor assigned to us when we went into the hospital to remove the knee apparatus. He is the one that controlled and co-ordinated the anti-biotic program concerning the empty knee. We did not see him, but rather, his assistant, Amy. We are done with him right now, until we get to the point of actually re-inserting the knee replacement, when they will make sure the infection is really gone.

Early this week, we completed the series of Cat scans of the kidney that had been ordered by Dr Malik, the kidney specialist, and we will not learn the results of these tests until next Tuesday.

However, we have made sure that each Dr gets a copy of the blood tests that we now have done weekly. Amy had their copy of the test done on Tuesday, and she was willing to share some of the info. Some value in the previous blood tests was 4.9 and 5.1 which indicated some kind of potential kidney problem. The value obtained on Mondays test was 2.9 and a "normal" reading is about 1.9, so we are trending downward. So hopefully there is no kidney problem.

This will mean 3 out 4 Doctors will clear us to go North for a while, so maybe we will be coming North for a while. Keep tuned.

Thank goodness for air conditioning

As you know, it gets warm in Florida during the spring and summer. Fortunately, we had the ac repaired in October. We are running high 80s, low 90s and lots of sun. When we were advised to stop the anti biotic we were also advised to check in with the Kidney specialist, because of potential damage due to the high level anti biotic. We were directed to Dr Alnick in St Augustine who scheduled us for an ultrasound, which was done on the 30th and a cat renal scan, with and without the dye, which was done on the 3rd and 4th of May. We are now awaiting the results, which we will learn on Tue, the 11th.

Meanwhile, tomorrow, we are scheduled to see Dr Manikal of infectious disease, and on Monday, Dr Dew, the ortho pedic surgeon.

Meanwhile, we have been busy, going to the Eustis and Super Flea Markets. We spent both days of the last weekend in April at Barberville, enjoying the music. Lester and Sueleft on 27th and arrived home on the 29th, with no problems.

Last Wed, Laura started to replace the kitchen floor with vinyl squares that look like wood. The job is now 95% done, with only a liitle remaining under the refrigerator. It looks good and should last a while.

Last Saturday, we went to the Super Flea in Ocala, and then went to Silver springs and rode two of the boat rides. Sunday, we went to the St Johns Flea Market, where I found and bought another guitar. This one is made by Trinity Fair,, the same people who make Johnson and Indiana guitars. It has great looks, great sound, included a gig bag, extra strings, extra picks, a strap, and no sales tax for a total of $90.

Laura has cleaned up the boat pretty good, and I was able to re do the filter so it is clean and tight and the motor runs decently.

For some reason, we are not seeing alligators.. The water temp is about 87 degrees, but we are enjoying the rides.

Today, Norma, Janice and Don came for the day.They had a nice boat ride, but not many alligators. Bill and Sherry Levy went back to Chicago today. We are the last of the snowbirds, and do not know what our fate is yet. Stay tuned.

In early April, we made preparations for Heidi and Kat to visit. On Thursday the 8th, we picked them up at the Jacksonville Airport, then stopped at the Clay county Fair on the way back. The weather was beautiful, in the mid 80s. LLes and Sue brought the Kricket, so I could get around. Friday, we went to St Augustine Beach, downtown St Augustine and the water park at the beach. Saturday, we went to Blairs' soccer game and Sunday, to a party at Norma's house, where Kat Met everybody.

Monday morning, we got two different phone calls, telling us my blood was overloaded with the latest antibiotic, and to stop doing the IV. We did stop, and Sunday nite the 11th, was our last anti biotic IV. We then went to Seaworld and our condo. Les and Sue, and Tim and Doris and Cody and Lavani were already there. They had gone to the Webster Flea Market. Sea world had no problem with KRIKET, once they figured out how to get it in.

Tuesday, we went to Disney, where they did have a problem with Kriket being too big. They offered us use of one of their electric carts free of charge(normally $70), which was certainly ok with us.

Wed, we went to Busch Gardens, which Heidi and Kat enjoyed the most. Thursday, we went back to Seaworld to finish up. Then it was time to deliver Heidi and Kat to the airport forthe long ride home. By this time Kat was really tired, so was Heidi, so was Mom and Dad.We arrived home in Satsuma about 9:00 pm.

Friday, we mailed our income tax forms. Since we have money coming back from both, there is no problem. The home service people came for the last time, took final bloood samples, and removed the Picc system, that had been in place since early March, right after the removal of the contaminated artificial knee.

Saturday, we went to see the dermatogoloist(sp), who was of little help, since he only works on the outside of the skin and he considers this to be working from the inside out.

We went to Rodeheaver to see Little Roy Lewis and Lizzy. Went back again on Sunday, since it was free.

Monday, we went to see Dr Dew, who took x-raysand said I could put full weight on the knee and can walk on it, but to watch for swelling and other problems. We go back to him in three weeks. The knee is ready, but we have to get the rest of me healthy enough to withstand the surgery. On Friday, we go to St Augustine to see our new Gp and the infectious disease Dr, to see what they have to say.We may be able to come North for a month or so, then come back
South to complete the surgery. So at the present time, we do not know what our schedule is going to be.

Will let you know, once we have an idea what is happening.

getting caught up

With all that has happened recently, it is difficult to sort it all out and fill in the information, so I am going to summarize bring everybody up to date. On March 25th, Laura took me in to Flagler hospital ER. They did numerous tests and decided to admit me, due to a number of small issues.

I was vomiting with diareah(spelling?) , my ankles and feet were bright red, and I was very lethargic. They did a catscan on my head and stomach area. They took x-rays , they tested my blood, and did all kinds of other tests. They eventually decided I had a gastro-intestinal problem, which was going around. Time to correct. They thought there was some kind of interaction between the one antibiotic and possibly the cumiden. So they changed the antibiotic.

Anyway, they let me out on Wed, March 31. Now some of the meds are different, and we have a different home IV, which has to be administered twice a day, so 9-10 each morning and evening, I am hooked up to an IV of Vancomycin, which is supposedly a very powerful anti-biotic. The legs have not yet cleared up but they are coming.

Thanks to the Criket, we have been out doing things.Yesterday and today we went to the Catfish Festival in Cresent City.

On April 1st, We finally got to take a boat ride. It felt really good and was beautiful on the water. Lester and Sue pushed the boat across the canal. I took the criket to the other side and used the walker to get down the ramp. It was a big effort, but well worth it. It should get easier as I get some of my muscle tone back. More later when we learn what is going on.

Dad's going home

Talked to mom about a half hour ago and she was loading the car. Not sure they ever figured out what the problem was, but....

Hopefully they'll catch some breaks now and things will go smoothly.

Sent from my iPhone.
Sorry for any typos.

Monday update

Well, Sunday there seemed to be some backsliding and Dad was less happy and there was at least some upchucking (or as he called it when it happened when we were on the phone...burps...but it sounded like a chunky one to me) ,

Monday started out to be a good day and he was sitting up. There hasn't been any vomiting since yesterday. But spots were still growing is new places- such as his fingers, near the nails. They did not give him the last dose of antibiotics for the day, as I assume they are trying to determine which drug is causing the reaction. Mom is ransacking their place as I write, trying to find the records from Dad's first round of antibotics and to try to determine exactly what drugs he was on then, as he didn't get a reaction. Could be useful to the docs now.

Mom said that by the time she left. the spots on his arms were lighter by the time Mom left. No change on the feet as far as she could tell..... we will see what tomorrow brings.

Saturday's update- things are better

Well, I just talked to Mom and she sounded much better. Relieved even. She said that when she got there this AM Dad was sitting up reading the paper. While they still don't know a damn thing, he looks and feel much better. He did have to drink the chalk for the CT scan of the stomach this AM and he wasn't sure that it would stay down, but it did, at least until they took him away. Whether or not it would stay down in the machine, etc remained to be seen. They never did get to doing the scan last night.

She assumes that he'll be in the hospital thru Monday, at least, as the Drs who should be trying to figure out what is going on may not be back until then. I hope she's right, as knowing that the 4 IVs are providing whatever he needs and they don't have to worry about dehydration, etc. is a relief.

Neither of them was in his room when I just called, as he was having the scan and she ran out to the store, but they will both be back shortly.

That's what I know so far today.

Another bump on the road to recovery

Well, Mom & Dad didn't ask me (Heidi) to update, and I forgot to ask if they wanted me to, but I'll do it anyway. This will be in somewhat reverse order, as I try to recount the last few days (from my perspective). This picture is from probably a week ago- from what I understand, his legs (and more) are now black and I suppose unsightly.

Dad is is Flagler hospital in St Augustine. He's is room/bed # 7223. They took him yesterday as he was upchucking (their word) and had had diarrhea for the previous couple of days.

He is in pretty good spirits, considering the long term puking/diarrhea issues that persist. But, at least he's in a place where they can keep him hydrated, etc. They took lots of blood yesterday to help figure out what is going on. He's currently hooked up to no less than 4 IVs. And a heart monitor. He was seen today by a plethora of Drs including a hematologist, GI guy and who knows who else. They expect the GI guy to be back to tomorrow, after wading through the morass of his records and trying to figure out what's what. I spoke to them both at about 8:30 their time and they were still awaiting a CT scan tonite. Dad just wanted to go to bed. They were worried, as apparently you have to drink some liquid prior to the scan, and given the last few days' activities, they had no reason to think it would stay down, so they would have to do the scan quickly. Good luck to them all in that endeavor.

Mom said he has severe stomach cramps that I think bothered him all day, in addition to the puking (my word) contractions. I don't know if they were able to do anything about that or not. She theorized that if the blood has been seeping out of the venous system, and accumulating at skin level, and (I think) beginning to harden up, there is no reason to think that it wouldn't have seeped into/onto the organs and could have effects on them as well, such as the puking.

Currently, he's stable, though likely fairly uncomfortable. I presume there's nothing like diarriah when you're virtually tied to your bed with all sorts of tubes, etc....So hopefully, tomorrow, he will remain stable and even make some progress in arresting the puking, etc. Maybe they'll even learn something about what's ailing him. I did point out that at this point, the lack of a knee joint and its attendant pain is likely so far from his mind...the 6-8 weeks before a new one can be inserted will just fly by.

Kat and I are flying down 4/8-4/15, so we sincerely hope that he is recovered from some of these travails and will be up for some exploring. If all goes really well, we'll spend a few days in Orlando renting a condo and hitting a few parks in the criket.

Tuesday, they tried to go to the Gainesville emergency room, but after being there for several hours, along with 50 other folks, AND eight stacked up ambulances, they left. They went that time because Dad's purpura has worsened so that his legs were BLACK. I don't have a pic of that....can only imagine from Mom's description (considering from the description of the above pic, I was picturing chicken pox-like red bumps) how bad it must be. I tried to include a link on wikipedia, but was unable. I think it's spelled right, so you can look it up yourself.

They had a good day on Wed, despite being unserved at the ER till 1:30 the night before. They went to the Putnam County Fair and Dad was eating and felt pretty good, so that's worth something.

That's the update from Seattle on event transpiring in St. Augustine.

Moving Along

Monday the 15th, was a busy day. We went to see Dr Dew. The knee looks good, he took out 8 of the 24 staples and took x-rays. He also ordered blood tests. We then went to arrange for blood tests, including a hassle with the employees, concerning a diagnostic code number. From there it was back to see Dr Limeres who squeezed us into his schedule. He reviewed the many drugs, we are taking and eliminated the anti-biotic prescribed by the emergency room Doctor of last Friday. He also re-instated the 2nd water pill, which has somehow been reduced to one.

We finally got home to do our IV, and this became IV #5.

Today, Tuesday, Chris, our visiting nurse from Omni- care came and replaced the dressing for the PICC system. While she was here, we got a call from Dr Dews' office that the latest blood test showed the indicator numbers going down, by a lot. Finally, some good news.

Last Saturday, Jerry and Lester completed the ramp for the back porch, so the"Cricket" can go up the ramp to the porch and I have only to come out the door and get on it and go. This eliminates having to go up or down stairs on crutches, and so far works well. The only problem with this system is that it has to be turned around. It has a rather large turning radius, so requires multiple turns to turn it around. Today Laura did something wrong and backed it right off the deck. Fortunately, there was stuff on the ground at that location to help support it and a chain and come- along soon corrected things. No damage done, and a protective railing will soon be installed.

Sunday update

It is about 4:45 and I am currently hooked up to the antibiotic flowing through my arm. This is treatment #4. Tomorrow, Katie, the nurse assigned to us, is supposed to come and replace the dressing, which is then replaced every 7 days.

Tomorrow, we go to see Dr Dew, and have some blood work done. At least things seem to be slowing down, and we can get back to the process of healing the knee.

I need to mention that Jerry and Shirley Burkley left for home this morning. It was surely different this year as the weather was bad almost the entire time they were here. I was suffering the entire time, and acted as a great anchor on their activities the whole time. The good part was they completed the purchase of Don and Lorettas' place and now have a place of their own.

SURPRISE!

Well, we were home one day and then: early Friday morning, I started to have some "chest pains".They were in the center of the chest and amounted to small pains on inhaling, then ok on exhaling. We discusssed what to do, then waited to see if anything changed. We decided to go to the emergency room at Palatka Hospital. A short wait to get into the system and then about 4 hours later, we were allowed to go home. They did an EKG, chest x-ray, blood test, and some other basic tests such as blood pressure, oxygen level, etc. It turned out to be, essentially, a small amount of fluid in the bottom of the left lung. Copies of the chest x-ray from Flagler showed the same fluid. So the nice Dr said we could go home, or stay in the hospital. We took his prescription for another antibiotic and went home. The pain went away, and everything has been fine since.We did not take his antibiotic, because we wanted to check with our regular Dr, about the wisdom of taking 3-4 different antibiotics at the same time.

When we left the hospital, there were 25-30 people in the waiting room as opposed to the 2-3 that were present when we originally arrive. It turned out there had been a fight at the high school, resulting in 25 people being sent to the emergency room. So although we spent the day at the hospital, it could have been much worse. We got home in time to meet with Katie, and have our second training session with the PICC system. I forgot to mention that Norma gave up her day to be with us at the hospital, and she also received some training in how to administer the antibiotic.

Today is Sunday, the 14th and everything appears to have settled down.

Going Home

At this moment, I am Home. We arrived home about 7: 00 PM on Wednesday eve. We had tentative approval to go home on Tuesday, but there were lots of loose ends to deal with, so we waited until yesterday, and even then there were some issues. Here is a summary of how things are supposed to happen:





I need about 8 weeks of an anti-biotic drip, before all infection is supposed to be gone and the normal knee replacement fixture can be installed. We had a choice between driving to Palatka Hospital every day, or having a home service come to the house and perform the service. The choice really depended upon insurance. Our insurance covered the home service, 100% so we chose it. Supplies will be delivered here, and a nurse will come to the house, to adminster the first doses. The nurse will train Laura and she will do the actual work, unless there are problems, when the home service nurse will be called in. Having the home service gives us more freedom. They installed a PICC system which is a dual port intravenous system for administering the anti-biotic directly into the Heart.



Anyway to escape from the asylum, we had to have the approval of the infection specialist, our orthopaedic specialist, and the GP assigned to us. All of them ok'ed our escape, leaving it up to the hospital staff, with their computerized info, and the home service to make their arrangements.



All of this came together about 6:00 PM and with some misgivings, as to whether we were making the right move, we left the hospital. We had a couple of prescriptions to pick up on the way home. We have a ton of medications to deal with, some changes, in strength, etc.



So now we are home, using "canadian" style crutches, which do not reach the upper shoulder. As soon as the PICC system was installed they told us no more conventional crutches. Laura saw somebody with the "canadian" version, talked to somebody with the home service , and by mid after noon, we had a brand new set in our possession.



We also have two sets of walkers, one narrow one which fits our doors and hallways, and one which does not.



This afternoon, we did our first anti biotic drip. Laura, Lester and myself . It amounts to ensuring that the ports are clean, the drip is properly hooked up, and the equipment is properly cleaned. We have to do this everyday for at least the next 20 days. So during the the hours of 3-4 PM ,we will busy doing "the Drip"









.

Not too much to report, apparently

I talked to Mom and Dad today and they are still having trouble getting online at the hospital.

The udpate is that Dad was sitting in the chair, and was picking at his lunch. Mom said he even ate a piece of mac & cheese (that wasn't Kraft dinner!). And that he had not had any pain meds today and maybe not yesterday either. That's impressive.

Dad said that when he first gets up to walk (they've had him walk around the room with a walker at least once each day), or do anything, it's very painful, but then the pain abates. I suspect that his pain threshold has increased dramatically in the last few months. And the rest of us wimps would not be handling it as well.

The infection specialist was in today and said that they were still growing the cultures and so far had found staph (again) and two other bugs, names had not yet been determined. But already they know that he will be back on the IV drip of antibiotics at the hospital daily for 6 weeks for the staph. Again. So they will have to plan their days, for some time, around the daily hospital visits. No word on what other measures will be taken for the other bugs yet, but I'm sure there will be some.

He sounded pretty good, considering that he's being held against his will and forced to endure numerous indignities. Including eating hospital food.

Someone will update when there is news to report, I'm sure.

Dad is doing well- he's crossing to the other side

This is Heidi, now channeling Dad, as they were having trouble picking up the wireless in the hospital and Mom wasn't able to update last night.

When I talked to Mom yesterday, she said that the Dr said everything went well, that there was still infection in there, but it was mostly inflammation. They took out the partial and put in a spacer (OUCH, I'm guessing) and I think some antibiotics to disperse over time.

I just spoke to them both. Dad is doing fine. He sounded good and was harassing the nurse about being from Tallahassee. The surgeon was by this AM and said everything looked good. And that last night would have been the worst pain-wise. And Dad said that it wasn't too bad, so that's promising. He was negotiating for his next pain meds when I left him.

Apparently an infection specialist will be handling the antibiotics, and they cultured the infection cells yesterday to determine what kills them. And related to this, or in general, Dad is currently receiving 2 litres of blood, which is allegedly from a 20 year old track star! They said he would feel much better once the blood was in and speaking as someone known for not having enough blood, I'm sure that they are right.

I think Dad wanted to title this post 'crossing over to the other side'. But I get editorial control, as I'm writing it. But he is optimistic that this will be the turning point and thus he will be coming out the other side of this nightmare soon(ish). Originally the plan was 6-8 weeks without the knee hardware and I think yesterday/today they've had indications that it MAY be sooner- really dependent on how it heals, I think, but I'm sure he would not argue with sooner.

Kat and I are planning on heading down there for a week or so once he gets home from the hospital and starts moving around. The rough plan is in 2-3 weeks and that, if he and his new criket cart are up for it, renting a place (handicapped accessible) in Orlando for a few nights so that we can hit the parks. And have whomever wants come to stay with us while we're there.

That is the update and all I know. I will update as requested. Hope everyone is well.

heidi

IT Is Time

all of the prequalifications are done. the arrangements are mostly done, we are ready to go. The ending of a terrible period, and the beginning of a new era. Today is the long awaited, yet dreaded surgery to repair the left knee so that I can walk again.

Fasting started last night, we are to arrive at the Flagler hospital about noon, get registered, and then be ready for surgery about 2-4oo :clock. Laura will report on progress as we go along.

Update

I'm just practicing, getting ready to put an update after Ron's surgery tomorrow. We are going to the Drs this afternoon for pre-opt stuff, after which we should know what time surgery is supposed to be. will let you know.

Try and keep up if you can

This gets complicated, but stay with me on this.

Since Dr Dew gave us a week to determine what is happening, we were able to go to the 6th annual Bluegrass Festival at Rodeheavers Boys Camp south of Palatka. Monday was trade your ticket for a wrist band day(and acquire chair number ticket), Tuesday was place your chair day. After placing our chairs, I DROVE HOME TO SATSUMA, first time since Dec 14.

no problem, just different. I had to drive the car first because I was going to drive the motorhome to the festival, which I did. No problem driving, but getting in and out with crutches, was no fun.

Wednesday, Laura had to scramble to get all the stuff into the motorhome, that she wanted us to have. The motorhome was a mess because of unfinished projects that I had started but not completed for some reason.

Thursday morning all the rigs went over and parked in the campground. We parked the three units in a "U" configuration which gave us a nice large common area for all of us to use.
While at the festival, I sat in a wheelchair in the handicap area, with my back to the sun, so even though it was cool, I was warm. I did have some difficulty getting in and out of the motorhome with crutches, but I managed.

At these festivals which are attended by a lot of older people with their camping vehicles, a lot of them also have specialized electric vehicles to help them move around the grounds. Laura saw a small 2 seater running around and chased it down and liked it. It seems there was one running around that was for sale. She chased it down and bought it.

Our electrical transportation is called a Criket, and it is a 2 seater, two years old, side bars, back rack, 4 large wheels,10-15 mph top speed, 8-10 hour battery life, up to 30 mile range. This allows one to get outside and travel in relative comfort. It collapses enough to fit inside a caravan. We will work out the details of transporting it ,but it will allow us to go to flea markets, and amusement parks and other outdoors events.

Now for today: We went to Dr Dews office, without the results we had expected last week. So we agreed to open up the knee and take out the partial hardware. they will put in a plastic spacer, which will assist in elieminating the infection. Eventually a full knee replacement will be put in. Overall this will take several months. We are moving as fast as possible, with the first surgery to be this Thursday evening if neccessary medical clearances can be obtained in time.

We did blood work today, pre-opt is scheduled for Wed afternoon. The schedule will be worked out as we move forward.

Throughout this whole ordeal, Laura has been there for me. She has done everything I asked, and didn't ask. She has had to everything we need to be done, as I cannot do virtually any thing physical. Her fingers are splitting and very sore and yet she pushes on. She says I would do the same for her and whereas this is true, she has never shown any signs of irritation or reluctance. When this is over, she truly deserves a cruise or something. We just had a little crying session where she just reconfrmed that I am not alone in this. We have had several crying sessions already and probably will have more.

Please join in with us to help provide the strength for us to get through this. More later when known.

we go forward

Last week was a round of medical experiences.Dr Dew on Monday, did not want to give cortisone shot , but did assign us to take a bone scan test to learn what is really really in there.


He advised us that the bone scan would identify what is in the joint . Best case we corrtisone and move on. Worst case would mean removing the hardware, with a week in the hospital, inserting a block spacer into the joint, for a week, and then replacing the partial joint with a complete joint. Time frame 6-8 weeks. We started the p/t work with an evaluation and learning the the desired exercises.

On the 11th we did the bone scan. Had to be at the hospital at 7:30, where they drew blood, which they sent out for white cell separation, re-insertion into my body and and taking pictures of where the white cells went into battle. This process took most of the day, until about 3:30..

On the 12th we had double duty, with Dr Romero first. This was an ofice visit, where the
cumiden level was checked and found to be high. advised not to take for the weekend and start agauin Monday. OK Cholesterol level was checked and found to be ok

Then went to Dr Limares office but, after waiting an hour , he was gone to the hospital, so we rescheduled.

Late afternoon on Friday afternoon, we got a phone call from Dr Dew, who told us "that the bone scan did not look good', so of course we are now sort of programmed and got our tears out of the way.

Over the weekend, we took Wally and Joanie Tanner to Dennys for a free breakfast and then to their house for haircuts. Watched the Daytona 500, as best we could.

Today, the 15th, we picked up Dr Dews x-rays from the hospital and the bone scans from the hospital and delivered them to Dr Dews office,and picked up a script for more blood tests.

At 4:15 we went to see Dr Dew, along with Norma. He checked the bone scan disc and asked some questions about pain loacation and level.

He decided that the knee was suffering more from inflammation than infection and that he would give it a shot of cortisone, restart the p/t work and wait a week to see what happens. Today happened to be the first day that I can walk some without crutches.

For the moment we are going the cortisone route, but he emphasazied that we are not out of the woods yet. Any sign that infection shows up it is off to surgery we go. So we have a fighting chance of licking this thing without surgery.. Surgery means taking out the the partial, supporting with a block and then replacing with full replacement knee. We shall see happens, but at least we know what is going on.

STILL ON THE CRUTCHES

I apologize for falling so far behind. hopefully, I wll catch us all up to speed. It has been about three weeks, and many things have happened, yet things
seem the same.

Presently, I sleep fitfully in our bed and wake up to find the left leg is mostly normal size, but still has an ache sufficiently strong enough to keep me from putting my full weight on it, thus I still need to use the crutches. Normally as the day progresses, the swelling returns, and the leg is quite large when we go to bed. Some days like today, I lay on the bed with my legs elevated for several hours, but it really does not seem to change anything. It is sort of like the movie Ground Hog, where Bill Murray wakes up and every day is the same.

At our last visit with Dr Dew on Jan 25, I was hoping for a cortisone shot and moving on. But he is monitoring what is going on and said certain chemicals in the blood needed to be trending downward, and then cortisone. So we do a blood test later this week and then see him on Monday, Feb 8th. Hopefully that is the magic day.

Part of my delay in updating was due to AT &T. They took our phone service out for some reason, and took 2 days to reinstate it. It then took two days and one inside technician and one outside technician to restore the DSL service.

On thursday the 28th of Jan. I had a chemical stress test, which I passed. I presently have no problem breathing, which is good. I am presently taking coudimen(?) for blood thinning and am running 2.6, (should be 2.5-3.5). Am also taking several other drugs to regulate and help the heart. As part of the stress test, I was also given an echo ultra sound test of the heart and also the carotid arteries. Everything was fine there. After discussing the tests, the Dr said to come back and see him in 6 months, which we changed to 8, after we return in Oct. So I must not be in too bad shape heart wise.

Jerry and Shirley Burkley, from West Seneca arrived from W. Seneca on Thursday. They are staying for 7 weeks in their camper which they brought down in October. They are interested in Don and loretta Jones trailer which is across the road here on Shady Lane.

Even in my crippled state, we have been somewhat active.We have gone to different flea markets ,where I get to ride in a wheel chair, which reminds me we bought a different one, which is bigger and higher. We have been to Deland and St Johns, and tomorrow I believe we are going to Deland again.

Last Sunday, we went to the Flagler Home Show, and then to Ruby Tuesdays, and then to Normas for Pie and coffee. We were joined by Janice and Melissa and Remy. Mel and Greg were there along with Lester and Sue, Jerry and Shirley, and Norma, along with Laura and I. It was a pleasant afternoon for all.

This week starts Speedweek in Daytona, and I normally go to the Bud Shootout on Saturday. It is a non points special race, but most of the drivers are participating, and it is sort of a preview of the big race which is on the 14th. another race on Saturday, which is part of the shootout is the ARCA race, where Danica Patrick is going to run her first stock car race. I would love to go and Jerry would go with me, but it is too hard to get around with just crutches. The wheelchair areas are too low, making it hard to watch. So it will be TV for me.

Hope this answers some of your questions about how we are doing. The weather this winter has been relatively poor(for this area), so we would not have done much boating or other outside activities anyway. It is hard to believe the boat has not moved since about the middle of December.

Last Saturday, we picked up the new water pill prescription and almost immediately started to breathe a little better, after taking the first one. This was not always the case in the next few days, but overall, things appear to be getting better.

I have been able to put full wt on the knee,(standing only) for a while. I am very close to being able to put full wt on while bending it to walk. I haven't tried yet today but will soon. I am walking back and forth down the hallway(with crutches) 8-10 times/day.

Friday is the next Dr visit with our new GP. He had us do blood work, so maybe we will learning something from this. We are also scheduled to have the first therapy session on Friday.

Sleeping is still a problem, but is gettting better. Overall, there is hope, that this nightmare will soon be behind us. The stupid cold weather is soon behind us too. Laura lost some of her plant life, but otherwise we had no problem, other than a furnace running all the time.

Now that I have basically caught up, I would like to summarize the recent events.



Dec 15-First Pains started to develop.

Dec 16-Went to Dr Dew in St Augustine-cortisone shot, pain pills

Dec 18-Back to Dr Dew in St Augustine-braced knee, stronger pain pills.

Dec 21-Back to Dr Dew, lanced knee, blood clot test, ekg, to lab for tests, away to Hospital

Dec 23-Arthoscopic cleaning of knee

Dec 24- released from hospital

Dec 25-Started daily IV infusions at the hospital

Jan 4-Stopped IV(11 done), switched to pills

Jan 8-Acquired GP doctor for florida

Jan 8, 2010

today was a double dose of office visits. first to Dr Romero, where the cumiden level was checked and found to be perfect at 2.5. next check in about a month. Blood pressure reading was 154/91. They will relay this info to Dr Romero who will change the medication if he deems it to be necessary.

Then off to Dr Limeres office, where we filled out all the pertinent patient info for them. We now have a GP to go to for any future situations.We talked to his assistant for a while. He could not get a BP reading with his automatic machine, so did it the old fashioned way. Manually, he got 148/70, which is better than most, though still higher than we like. He explained that the arrithmia(?) causes the device to stop when beats stop, then starts again when the beats reappear, causing the device to read higher than it should. this makes sense. After talking with Dr Limeres for a while, he issued a prescription for water pills, and blood tests. Next visit, next Friday. The visits were not as productive as we had hoped, but at least we now have several people trying to help us.

For the moment I guess the heart is more important than the knee, but the knee continues to improve, and I am very close to putting weight on it.

Jan 6

sleeping pattern has changed to 3-4 hours, then laying awake until daybreak. hard to stay awake during days sometimes. continuing to heat and cool ,while flexing and bending, while in chair.

cold, 28-50 degrees.

JAN 5

Lester moved Jerrys trailer, to make room for Bea and Cliff and Ken and June and Judy, who arrived late in the afternoon. Lester got them set up. Laura had supper ready for everybody. It is nice and cool here (30-50 degrees)

Monday Jan 4

We went to have iv #11 done, then got in to see Dr Laubaugh. he checked on the germ that was found in my knee and determined there are many antibiotics that will kill it.So he stopped the iv drip and changed to a pill version. we went back to the hospital to have the iv apparatus removed.

Laura had called Dr Romero to see if he would change the blood pressure medication, which he did by doubling the quantity and doubling the frequency.

Lester and Sue arrived today and Bob and Laverne came for a welcome supper.

Welcome 2010

Jan 1,2,3

routine trips to hospital for daily IV drips, and heating and cooling treatment of the knee.

The end of the Year 2009

New Years Eve Day.

Went to hospital for iv treatment #7, then home and spent most of the day with feet elevated, working with ice cooler and heating pad, alternating on knee. Blood pressure values are significantly improved. What a way to end a year. Hopefully, 2010 will be better. Happy New Year everbody.

Finally, some changes

This day, Wed ,Dec 30, Like all the days before, we went to the IV session at the hospital. We had made an appointment with Dr Thomas Romero, who was running late, so had to wait awhile. Dr Romero is our newly acquired cardiologist, whom we like a lot.

His assistant did some preliminary tests, including heart beat, blood pressure, EKG. nothing was said about the EKG .When he arrived, they checked the cumiden level, which was ok. He changed the blood pressure medication to a stronger one. He doubled the Lavastatin from 20 to 40 for the chlosterol(sic). Despite previous events, he said the heart was not too far away from normal, but there will be a chemical stress test later in Jan,( after things settle down). This will bettter evaluate the true condition of the heart.

Sunday Dec 27, 2009

Typical cuff numbers-155/91/84. At this point, I am sleeping fairly well, with minor comfort issues. Am able to get out of bed quite well. Able to walk some( with crutches, putting some wt on left knee). Basically each day is now an improvement. More of the same Monday and Tuesday. It has now been two weeks, and the question is? how much more until this nightmare is over?

The day after Christmas-2009

Slept pretty good. Did have a bloody nose during night-made second trip to hospital for IV drip. This is a 36 mile round trip. The nurse took my bloood pressure (99) and said it should be below that. She called Dr Laubaugh, who came by and and indicated that I had only had one dose of blood pressure medication.

He changed my bandage and looked at the entry holes.We would see him on Monday.
Laura did some traveling, recovering our cell phone and other misc stuff from Normas'. Laura found our portable digital blood pressure monitor, which we started using. typical numbers were 154/75/75. During most of this episode, my appetite has gone away, but today, it started to come back.

CHRISTMAS DAY 2009

Bob and Sherie Kanouff , owners of Lakeside Campground in Stow, bought a home on Riverside Drive not far from here. Other years, they have have had family here at Christmas, but not this year. Bill Levy is from Chicago, and his wife Sherry is home for Christmas. When asked, Norma graciously invited them all to come. Bill and Sherie picked us up and took us to the Hospital for my first IV treatment.

Then we all went to Normas' for a very nice Christmas celebration. Good food, good time, Some gifts exchanged, good job by Norma. Various parts of the family were represented, Jan and Don and Annette, Leslie and Zach, Jane, Christina. There was also a nice ice cream cake to help celebrate Janice and my December birthdays. Bob and Sherie brought us home.

Hospital Day #3 ? #4?

Thursday Dec 24, Christmas Eve Day.

Since we had been told we might be discharged today, we were certainly hoping it would happen.
About 1:45PM, Dr Laubaugh came through and said we could go home if we wanted. At 2:00, he left to write up all the paper work, prescriptions, etc. At 5:00 we were ready to go, and could finally leave. Fortunately, CVS was open until 6:00 and we were able to get 3 new prescriptions filled. So we got home at 6:15, tired, but happy to be in our own little home.

Since I had basically been in bed all week, and the leg had new work done on it, this was the worst day of the experience for moving on crutches, and I am very tired!

Day 2 in Hospital

Today is Dec 23, and it was kind of quiet, Bob and Laverne came to visit and had lunch with Laura in the Cafeteria. It was otherwise quiet and routine until about 4:30PM, when the hospital bone specialist, Dr Richard Laubaugh, stopped in to visit.(Dr Dew does not have privileges in this hospital).

He said he had looked at the records and stuff, and had talked to Dr Dew, and could do an arthroscopic procedure to clean out the knee. It could possibly be done that night. OK.

We were told to be ready at 7:00, which we were were. Could it be that relief was on the way?

They made me help transfer from the bed to the wheelchair, to another small bed. They parked me in some dingy dark cold area, started an IV drip and left me alone to ponder and wonder.

About 8:15, they came and transferred me to the operating room, another transfer to an operating gurney, three applications of some kind of gas to the face and next thing I knew, I was
having hallucinations while recovering. I thought I was in another place, until finally Lauras' face shows up along with the attending nurse, and now I know where I am.

The surgery ended about 10:30PM and they tell me they flushed my knee with about 11 gallons of water. I awake about 3:00 in the morning, all is quiet, nobody around and actually have a faurly peaceful night.

During the pre op discussions, Dr Laubaugh indicated that, yes I had an infection, and that for 6 weeks after the surgery, I would have to come to the hospital every day to have an antibiotic IV drip administered.

Hospital Days #1

Somehow the last blog is dated Dec 31, rather than Dec 21, but it is too hard to change. Today, is Tuesday Dec 22,.It was sort of a tough night in the hospital, but they had pain pills which were somewhat effective. Phone calls from Jerry, Derek and others. Wesley Vaughn stopped in to visit and brought an e-mail sent from Heidi.
Had an echo gram done- like an ultra sound of the chest-showed heart not pumping fully, but rate is good at about 80.