My sweet parents!
Not so great news to share about my Daddy :-( ! He has been looking forward to his "release date" from Roger C. Peace on March 18, which is only a few days away and low and behold the doctor came in yesterday afternoon while the wound nurse was changing Daddy's wound vac dressings and announced that Daddy would indeed have to have another (#5 for those of you counting) surgery on his chest early next w
eek. What devastating news for my parents. Mother said tears just jumped out of her eyes and she silently soaked her shirt down (bless her heart). Dr. Fowler said that Daddy had ruined all of the progress and healing his open chest wound had made by coughing so much in the past two weeks. He said that Daddy's rib bones were dry, brittle and quite sharp and every time he coughed he shredded his own tissue and the foam used for the dressings. They are going to have to snip the ribs back, pull muscle from his stomach (about a 8 to 9 inch incision) and graft skin from his (good) left leg and try to repair his chest that way. Sounds so painful and breaks my heart.
Daddy called to tell me at about all of this at 2:15 pm today and totally ruined my day (couldn't get myself together!). I couldn't hold back my tears and wept to him. He told me that I had to put my chin up and be strong! My strong is about all used up, but I told him I would be strong for him. I just hurt for him. His disappointment was very obvious! We really have no other choice but to try one more thing.
The wound nurse (Mary Ann - who is wonderful) told Mother that she needed to be thankful that there is still something that could be done. She said,"The time to get upset is when they say there is nothing else they can do." Okay - I guess we will have to reassure ourselves that way, but it just doesn't feel a bit better to me. I don't understand why things keep going better, bad, and then worse - over and over again! We really need a miracle! We want so badly for this to be the perfect surgery to repair all of Daddy's chest needs. Please, Lord!
He still continues to drain loads of lymph fluid in the wound vac from his upper thigh, but Dr. Fowler said they aren't going to touch the thigh this time around. They are concentrating on the most important area first. They are going to stop all antibiotics about two days before surgery so they can properly culture Daddy's wound to make sure that all the antibiotics have wiped out the infection. If all goes as planned we are looking at two weeks post surgery to go home. If infection is still there, they will be facing another six weeks of IV antibiotics. ARGH!!!!!
Daddy still looks good, and puts on his happy face when I visit. Maybe I make him laugh because I look like pack mule when I carry all their laundry, snacks and such in one load from my car. He is getting around fairly well, considering he is rolling an IV pole around with two wound vacs attached. Everyone at the facility they are in is good to them. Mother has had a time getting the room to a comfortable temp. Before they "repaired" the unit in their room she was burning up and fanning constantly. Now that they "repaired" it she and Daddy are cold, then hot, then cold.......! No happy medium! Plus on Thursday they awoke to find the floor flooded from the cruddy unit having a leak, so all of Mother's "paper work", mail, bills, journals, etc were soaked! Yep, she had a melt down! Daddy just rolls with the flow and continues to be happy to have his partner by his side. This officially is their longest stay in the hospital at one time. They have been hospitalized from Jan. 16 until they get to go home - and who knows when that will be. It has been a four and a half month battle in total so far with only 16 days being spent at home. What a lengthy hospital journey and who would have ever dreamed? I just hope and pray that this will be their last battle and after this surgery it will be smooth sailing until they arrive at their "home destination". Keep paying for them y'all!
eek. What devastating news for my parents. Mother said tears just jumped out of her eyes and she silently soaked her shirt down (bless her heart). Dr. Fowler said that Daddy had ruined all of the progress and healing his open chest wound had made by coughing so much in the past two weeks. He said that Daddy's rib bones were dry, brittle and quite sharp and every time he coughed he shredded his own tissue and the foam used for the dressings. They are going to have to snip the ribs back, pull muscle from his stomach (about a 8 to 9 inch incision) and graft skin from his (good) left leg and try to repair his chest that way. Sounds so painful and breaks my heart.Daddy called to tell me at about all of this at 2:15 pm today and totally ruined my day (couldn't get myself together!). I couldn't hold back my tears and wept to him. He told me that I had to put my chin up and be strong! My strong is about all used up, but I told him I would be strong for him. I just hurt for him. His disappointment was very obvious! We really have no other choice but to try one more thing.
The wound nurse (Mary Ann - who is wonderful) told Mother that she needed to be thankful that there is still something that could be done. She said,"The time to get upset is when they say there is nothing else they can do." Okay - I guess we will have to reassure ourselves that way, but it just doesn't feel a bit better to me. I don't understand why things keep going better, bad, and then worse - over and over again! We really need a miracle! We want so badly for this to be the perfect surgery to repair all of Daddy's chest needs. Please, Lord!
He still continues to drain loads of lymph fluid in the wound vac from his upper thigh, but Dr. Fowler said they aren't going to touch the thigh this time around. They are concentrating on the most important area first. They are going to stop all antibiotics about two days before surgery so they can properly culture Daddy's wound to make sure that all the antibiotics have wiped out the infection. If all goes as planned we are looking at two weeks post surgery to go home. If infection is still there, they will be facing another six weeks of IV antibiotics. ARGH!!!!!
Daddy still looks good, and puts on his happy face when I visit. Maybe I make him laugh because I look like pack mule when I carry all their laundry, snacks and such in one load from my car. He is getting around fairly well, considering he is rolling an IV pole around with two wound vacs attached. Everyone at the facility they are in is good to them. Mother has had a time getting the room to a comfortable temp. Before they "repaired" the unit in their room she was burning up and fanning constantly. Now that they "repaired" it she and Daddy are cold, then hot, then cold.......! No happy medium! Plus on Thursday they awoke to find the floor flooded from the cruddy unit having a leak, so all of Mother's "paper work", mail, bills, journals, etc were soaked! Yep, she had a melt down! Daddy just rolls with the flow and continues to be happy to have his partner by his side. This officially is their longest stay in the hospital at one time. They have been hospitalized from Jan. 16 until they get to go home - and who knows when that will be. It has been a four and a half month battle in total so far with only 16 days being spent at home. What a lengthy hospital journey and who would have ever dreamed? I just hope and pray that this will be their last battle and after this surgery it will be smooth sailing until they arrive at their "home destination". Keep paying for them y'all!
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