The Funny Farm

We hope eight is enough! That's what my Daddy keeps saying about the 8th surgery that was preformed on his chest this morning. Who would have ever dreamed? The repair that was made last Tuesday just didn't quite do the trick! Last Friday Daddy started draining into his JP drain a fluid that looked a lot like coffee with cream in it. It looked just like my iced coffee from McDonald's - yuck! That is not a good, healthy color by any means. The infectious disease doctors cultured the drainage and it came back as "Gram Positive Rods". They said it was not staph, but didn't know what it was at this point. Dr. Fowler said it looked good when he went back in to put a wound vac on Daddy's chest this morning. He did a little cleanup of the damaged tissue and in no time Daddy was back in the room complete with a new wound vac. I am convinced and so is the good doctor that this is the best thing for Daddy. Heck it finally worked on his thigh, so our guess is that it will eventually work on his chest. Actually there aren't a lot of other choices left for us to choose from! I sure do wish he had put the wound vac on last week. I honestly don't think surgery would have happened today. Hind sight is always 20/20! Right?
Daddy has had a wonderful attitude about the "one more surgery" thing, especially since he also started bubbling air out of two new holes that developed on the skin graphed area on Saturday. This is not a good thing either! His nurse flipped out completely. She had never seen such a sight! That was enough to scare the life out of my parents. They have just been through so much!
When I left him this afternoon to pick up the kids, the Infectious Disease Nurse Practitioner had just walked in to announce some not so wonderful news. It seems as if they have decided that Daddy needs to continue on his entire six week round of IV antibiotics again - which also means that time must be spent in the hospital and not at home! He is only on day four now. How could such a whopping big announcement be made by the NP? Where was Dr. Shrank (the grand pooh pahh Infectious Disease Doctor)? Oh, yeah he is out for the rest of the week! ARGH!!! She asked if Daddy wanted her to have the IV team come in and put in a pic line so he wouldn't blow his veins. He said he would wait to talk to a real doctor! I bet she hates hearing that from patients, but what does she expect?
Daddy had a massive appetite when they rolled him in from surgery. The nurse asked him if he was hurting and he said that he was. When she asked him where he was hurting he replied, "In my stomach! I am starving to death and want a cheeseburger with french fries!" And that is just what he got and gobbled up every bite! He has always loved to eat and has said before this entire nightmare began, "If I am not eatin' I'm a dyin'!" Honestly this is the best I have seen him eat in a long time! I hope that is a sign of good things, strength, and healing to come! I love him so much and I want him back! Back in our world outside the walls of the hospital. Back in the sunshine of these glorious May days. Back at the dinner table saying, "I am popping fresh!" Back in the yard showing us all of his "pet" hummingbirds. He doesn't have to be superman, just Pappy.