Dan is doing so much better. He's holding his head up and sitting up straight in the wheelchair. This last week he's even started eating some. He still won't eat the food at the facility, but he's started talking about food so I've started taking hime some meals. We even went on a short outing yesterday. His Medicare days will be gone in two weeks. I need to make a decision about leaving him there for a bit longer or bringing him home. He's much stronger than he was when he went in but I
Dan is showing improvement. He's holding his back and head up now, not much, but for him a big improvement. I've felt a little optimistic this last week. I still don't know if he'll be home or not. There's a long way to go before he can stand and pivot like he did before. He's so fragile.
We had so much rain during April that the yard was too wet for landscaping and grass seed. We finally had several dry days so the landscaping and grass seed finally got done. Just as I feard, the wea
Dan is being discharged from the hospital to another facility today. Last week was absolutely horrible. Dan was turned down by 3 facilities because of VRE. The rankings on medicare.gov are so misleading. In February I chose a 4 star rated facility who didn't monitor urine output and his kidneys almost failed. This time someone recommended a 1 star rated facility and I very cautiously checked it out. It seems like a very nice facility. Their rehab area is state of the art. They have hydro
This has been a horrible day. Started out OK but then went down the toilet pretty quickly.
I slept in today, woke up at 7:30am and just flat out didn't want to get out of bed to face the day. I finally prodded myself out of bed at 8:30am. I sat down at the computer to pay some bills and do some filing. Instead I found other things that just had to be done before bills. Silly things like defragging my hard drive, cleaning out email, forwarding stupid jokes. I'm sure that you get the ide
So much has happened since my last blog.
On 5/5 the doc at the ECF ordered the same antibiotic that he had prescribed three weeks prior for Dan's UTI. What in the name of heaven made him think that the drug that didn't work three weeks ago would suddenly work now??? I had a hissy fit and requested another physician. The new physician reviewed Dan's chart and the next day Dan was sent to the hospital. Four days later he was transferred to ICU with pneumonia in both lungs and sepsis. His
I think it's finally spring in central Indiana. I'm sitting on the back porch and the sun is shining, the birds are singing, and I can hear children in the background. We've had so much rain and cold weather this spring. There's been too much rain to get grass seed planted. I fear that the grass seed will go down and suddenly it will be 90 degress out and no sign of rain. Feast or famine.
All things considered, I've had a pretty good week. I got a hair cut, went to my Caregiver Support
Life has calmed down considerably.
Dan is in an excellent facility this time. He gets OT, PT, and ST every day. He wasn't able to sit on the edge of the bed when he got there and yesterday he sat on the edge of the bed for 30 minutes without anyone propping him up. Yea rah!! He can't hold his head up anymore so they spend a lot of time stretching his neck and his back. Of course, he complains constantly. The first week I had to leave the therapy room because I just couldn't take his c
Dan was discharged from the hospital Wednesday, 3/30. He's now in a rehab facility. He totally doesn't want to be there and lets it be known to anyone who is within yelling distance. He's so weak that they have to use a Hoyer lift to get him out of bed. His back hurts really bad every they get him up because he's been flat on his back for over two months. I think this place is going to work. They get him out of bed for every meal and he goes to the dining room to eat. The only exception i
Dan's surgery went very well. It took 6 hours, 2 hours longer than expected because his colon was so diseased. The first things he said when I saw him in Recovery were: 1) I surprised everyone, I didn't die 2) I'm hungry and 3) When can I have Chinese? All of the docs who have seen him are very pleased, if not a little surprised, by how well he's doing. He's been so frail for so long everyone was very concerned about the surgery outcome. He even had solid food yesterday and scarfed it down
So much has happened since my last post.
Within one week of being in the rehab facility Dan had pneumonia in both lungs, sepsis, and he was so dehydrated that his kidneys had started to fail. Thank God they got him to the hospital and ICU quick enough that his kidneys did not fail. He's stronger and eating again.
Here's the short story of what happened. The doctor ordered a picc line on Friday because Dan's BP was 70 and he was very lethargic. I was assured that he would be getti
Last week was horrible and it's continuing this week.
The Cliff Notes version is that I got a stomach bug and was sick as a dog. Dan was to be discharged to my rehab of choice on Thursday. On Wednesday I called the docs office regarding Dan's next Remicaide infusion which prompted the docs office to call my rehab facility of choice to see if they could do the infusion. OMG what a fiasco. Apparently Dan's eval was completed prior to his first infusion of Remicade, so the drug was not on
Dan is still in the hospital. They just can't get his ulcerative colitis under control. They started him on Remicade infusion on Wednesday. He will have three infusions in six weeks then he'll go on maintenance which is an infusion every 6 to 8 weeks. If this doesn't help control the UC the next step is bowel resection surgery.
He was doing so well on Friday. We transferred out of bed and on and off the toilet and he did great. He was weak, but we did it and we both felt good about it.
Dan's still in the hospital and not much has changed. We're in the middle of an ice storm so I didn't make it to the hospital today and probably won't tomorrow.
The GI doc yesterday said Dan has Toxic Megacolon. I googled it and it kind of scared me. Basically it means that the colon is distended and nothing can pass. It can be life threatening and frequently results in a permanent colostomy. When I called Dan he said the doc had been in to see him. He said she told him they didn't k
Dan has been in the hospital for a week now. I am so enjoying my quiet time. I still wake up at 5:00am but I don't have to worry about scurrying to get a few things done before he wakes up. This morning I sat down in a comfortable chair, read the paper, drank a couple of cups of coffee, and now I'm checking blogs and posts. All things I haven't had time to do lately. I don't feel guilty about this at all. I really enjoy my time alone.
This has started me thinking about how much of ours
I did it!! We're back home in Indiana. We moved into our new house Jan 10 right ahead of a midwest snow storm. The movers came the following day with our belongings. Dan's older brother, younger brother, and their respective souses arrived right after the movers, one from central Illinois and one from northern Indiana. They not only unpacked, they put away 90% of the boxes and organized the basement and garage. It's like a treasure hunt looking for things! Dan's family has been a tremendo
I've been wanting to start a blog, I so much enjoy keeping up to date with everyone by reading their blogs. New years day seemed like a good day to start. So, here I am, although I really don't have a lot to say.
Today has been a very good day so far. We both slept well last night. I slept in until 7:30 this morning! We are still on schedule to move in 9 days. Dan's not been in the hospital for one whole week now. He was in the hospital three times in three weeks. Sounds horrible, but
