SUNDAY, OCTOBER 28

O.K., so it wasn't that it was too early this a.m. - anyone who has been in a hospital knows that 8:00 a.m. is not early - you've already been awakened several times since about 4:00 a.m. - I think I've just been here too long !! Apologies for the blank blog. Will try to make more progress this time. Going back a little bit in time, the week before his plastic surgery, Joe accidentally pulled out his feeding tube. This happened right after his triple lumen pick accidentally got pulled out by the physical therapist trying to get him into the wheel chair. Both created some discussions and problem solving. The pick was the thing that has been used to administer one of the antibiotics, Vancomycin, for the Staph infection. The other antibiotic, that is being used to treat the other gram negative infection, had been crushed and flushed through the feeding tube while he had his jaws wired. And the feeding tube was used at night to administer the "Crucial" feed to him while he was unable to eat and in the hopes of building him up from his malnourished state to help prepare him, the skin and the surgical sites for the plastic surgery. The nutritionist had insisted on it. So, on the Saturday night that it was discovered that the feeding tube had been pulled out of place, the great family discussion began. Joe had decided he didn't want it anymore and I was pretty determined that he needed it and it should be continued. So, the whole family and the nurses and the residents were in on the discussion. Back and forth, pros and cons, not getting anywhere. Finally, the head nurse sent everyone out, closed the curtain and left just the two of us to come to some decision. This was not easy, but I did have to remind the patient that the decisions that had been made by us so far had been good ones and he was making good forward progress and it would be foolish to not continue in that direction. Joe did finally defer to me, though he was not happy about it. I hate to tell him I told you so, but this did turn out to be an excellent decision. After his plastic surgery, the doctor did tell us that with the injuries that Joe had , they only get these good results in about 2 out of 10 cases. We feel very lucky, but I really think that the combination of everything - the extra nutrition, which he would not have without the feeding tube, the Integra, the wound Vacs and the excellent work of some very fine surgeons. The other thing that we think has really helped, in conjunction with the traditional and high tech Western medicine, has been the wonderful work of the people from Healing Touch and Reiki. We are very grateful from all of them. The IV line turned out to be a bit of a puzzle. They decided not to put another pick in, since he only had about another 8 days of antibiotics and thought they could just put an IV line in. Well, that turned out to be easier said than done. First of all, he hardly has any usable veins, so whenever they could find a little one, put in an IV, start trying to run the Vancomycin, they would blow the vein out. We've learned that that antibiotic is very hard on the veins. So after a few doses of that, they called the pick unit in again. They decided not to put another one in and put in a peripheral line instead. All well and good, but the only vein should could find was right above the elbow, so he couldn't move his arm without pushing the needle in further into the vein. Very painful and totally impractical. Well, that lasted a day before he went in for his nerve sugery and they had to pull that out to make the incision for that surgery. Pretty silly, but at least during surgery, the surgeon put a new line into his left foot and a back-up into his right hand. Well, the one in the right hand lasted one day and blew out before it was even used. Useless. Fortunately, the one in the left foot has held out and everyone is treating it very tenderly and carefully and at this point, it only has to last for one more day and a half. So, all is well with Joe. They continue now to change all the dressings daily and everything looks good and is progressing well. Plastics is thinking they will continue that plan for another week and we are waiting now for the results of the X-Rays taken on Friday night to determine when he will be able to begin to bear weight. At that point, some plan will begin to be formed for post-hospital. On another note, Robb has been involved in about 12 hours of very stressful situations. Last night, the husband of the patient next to us had a complete melt-down. At this particular time, the other 2 patients in the unit had been transferred out to other rooms and Joe and I had gone down to X-Ray for more pictures. Robb was waiting in the room for us and was alone with the 2 nurses, the other patient and her husband, who came to the Nurse's station and said he was sure his wife was going to die that night and he had bought a rope and he was going to hang himself, because she was all he had. He continued to go on and on. His wife's nurse just explained to him that his wife was NOT dying. He left and everything sprung into action. Security, police, administration, etc. Robb was asked for a statement and he gave one. Then he was asked to confirm and sign. He worried that the poor 80 year old man was going to be arrested. As it has turned out, all seems to be O.K. He is still here, and much subdued, and she is still here. However, all the rest of us were shaken. This was more stressful than all of the prisoners, police officers, State Troopers and Tribal Police that have been in and out of this Unit. The next morning, Robb was out having a cigarette break and he got punched in the head. Yes, assaulted on the grounds of Albany Med. None of this gives us a very secure feeling and I, for one, am starting to really look forward to our next stage of recovery, which, hopefully will be sooner, rather than later. Please keep up all of your wonderful good wishes and prayers. Joe still has a long road to recovery. Robb will be taking his computer, so I don't know when I'll get to blog again, but we'll do our best. Stacy is in New Orleans for VooDoo Fest and Scott is headed to Las Vegas this week, so until Robb comes back later this week Over and Out from Albany Med. Love, Cindi