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.