ANOTHER INFECTION

The results of Ron's ultrasound and renal gram came in on Friday. No signs of any sort of blockage around the kidneys...and nothing new showed up on the renal gram. His creatinine is down to 1.6...which is great! His white cell count is starting to come back up some to 2.7... The doctors like to keep him right around 3. So we are almost there, too. His output has been very good, too. Friday night, however, we discovered that Ron's kidney wound developed another infection. The outer part of his skin was very red and inflamed. I had the nurse immediately page the doctor on call. He was started on an oral antibiotic that night. Saturday morning the renal surgeon came in and took a look at the wound and confirmed that it was infected. He removed the oral antibiotic and started back on vancomycin on IV...once a day. He has had two treatments so far. The inside of the wound looks a lot better. The outer skin is still very red....I hope the antibiotic knocks this out quickly and that we caught it early. Ron seems to be feeling fine but he says it is very tender and sore...which makes it difficult for him to do a lot of his leg exercises....but, he does what he can. I hope to speak with the doctors more this week as to the plans for possibly discharging Ron soon. The talk has gone back and forth as to when to let him go. Some have said to wait until he walks...but given that they are not aggressively working with him on rehab...I really don't see the point in keeping him here much longer ....at the rate that things are going here ...as to the lack of physical therapy..it is not really improving his chances of walking any time soon. I believe the best thing for him is to get him home ...once this infection clears up...and get him in a proper out patient rehab facility as soon as possible. Saturday marked 90 days that we have been here. I can't forsee Ron staying another month here ...and neither can he. It is taking a toll on all of us...especially...Thomas...he was so emotional this weekend. He ended up staying the night with us here at the hospital on Saturday night. He just cried so much ....as if he feelings were just so hurt. Every time his dad would tell him how much he loved him and how happy he was to have him stay the night ...he would just cry with so much emotion. It just broke our hearts. We need to get home ...for all of our sakes ...for our sanity ...and for inner peace...and for the comforts of home. I put my trust in the Lord ...he will bring this day very soon!

"Let your unfailing love surround us, Lord, for our hope is in you alone."

Psalm 33:22