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?

Sent from my iPhone.
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.