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