Day Forty Two Part Three

3:14PM

Don was in recovery until 2:20 and then they brought him back to his room. I haven't been able to see the incision (they were opening they old incision), but I am told that he has two drain tubes. I am assuming there are like the ones he had on the first surgery. They also tell me a has a wound vac. I am not sure about all that either. I understand the concept, but I have never seen one. Don confessed in recovery that he had been very worried and I told him I knew that. He had been very quite since Saturday night when the incision started draining. He is worried about all of us. We are trying to tell him we are just fine. They have started him Vancomycin and Zosyn. He was on this on Day 18. They had to give him pain meds by injection in recovery and he asked for his Loritab about 3:00. He has been sleeping since they gave him his meds. I will try to post again this evening. Please keep praying!

Day Forty Two Part Two

11:41PM

Don is out of surgery and in recovery. Recovery could be up to 4 hours. Dr. Kurunaker (ortho surgeon) said that they didn't find anything they weren't expecting. That even though the type of bacteria he had wasn't common, the infection and how it has affected his body is common. They did find some unhealthy fat tissue in his abdomen. They said this could have come from the accident itself or from the surgery. They also said that the infection could have come from the unhealthy fat tissue, the surgery itself (such a big surgery and big incision) & being in the hospital so long, the catheter, or the nursing facility. It is common to have infections after such an event that Don has gone through. They trimmed away the unhealthy fat tissue and all other tissue that had been affected by the infection and washed it all out. They were able to close the incision and put drain tubes in. I am very thankful for that! Don promised to be waving with the 4 fingers on his hand that is casted when he comes out of recovery. He still can't get his right arm in that position to wave. We very thankful for these results! I will try to update again when Don is back in his room! Please keep praying!

Day Forty Two

10:08 AM

Don went to surgery about 9:45. We are waiting on the call to say surgery has begun. Don slept well for the most part. At 1:30 the lab came in to take blood and Don realized his gown was pretty well soaked. The incision was leaking again. They came in and cleaned him up, dressed the incision, and changed his gown. The ortho doctor came in a little after 5:00 and confirmed surgery for this morning at 10:30. However at 8:00 they came in to say they were ready to get him then. They had come in about 7:30 and removed his cast on his left arm to check for infection there. There was no infection so they were to recast it. That delayed them a little in getting him to surgery as they came to recast just minutes before they arrived to take him to surgery. They called just a few minutes ago to say surgery had begun and everything was going well. Please pray that this will be the only time he has to have surgery to clean this incision out. Even though it is a minor operation, sometimes it has to be done two or three times to get all the infection out. Also pray that he doesn't get any new infections anywhere else. I will update when Don is out of surgery.