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"









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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.