Day Forty Three Part Two

5:51 PM

PT came by about 1:15. They wanted to get Don up and into a chair. He wiggled his way to the side of the bed and was assisted to sit on the side of the bed. He was able to balance himself after getting positioned on the side of the bed. They tried to lift him and have stand on his one good leg and Don tried with all his might. He just couldn't do it. Two of our friends/co-workers stopped by while PT was going on and had to wait until he was back into bed to visit. Don kept apologizing because they had to wait. OT also came by and really worked on his right arm. I could hardly watch as Don flinched in pain with each movement. Then the OT told me that I was going to have to do the exercises with Don 3 times a day, 15 repetitions of each target area and holding each for 30 seconds. When she had me to start moving his arm and I saw him whence I thought I was going to throw up. I got very weak. But the therapist told me I had to do it so that Don could get better. So just kept applying pressure and crying. I would let up just enough to wipe away my tears. I don't know what was harder, the first time I had to hold Kristi's leg to have her first vaccine or to do PT today with Don. Later when there was no one else in the room, Don said he was sorry that he was unable to stand up. I told him he did more today than he had been able to do in six weeks and that I was very proud of him and he should be proud too! The infectious disease doctor came by today. She said that she had talked with the ortho doctors and was told that everything looked superficial and that they would be changing some of his antibiotics. He will take 1 twice a day by IV and then he will take one by mouth. They said he would be on these for 2 weeks and if the infection came back after that we would have more serious problems. Please pray that all the infection is gone and that he doesn't have any more trouble with infections of any kind. She said if the infection went to the bone that he would be down 6 - 8 more weeks with another surgery and then on antibiotics for life. That is the last thing Don needs. Please pray that the infection is gone!!

Day Forty Three

9:31AM
Don just rested most of evening. Somewhere around 7:00 he had a piece of cake and some milk. He got choked on the milk and it caused some issues. Don was very upset. It was already dark and we had to leave the lights on the rest of the night - actually they are still on. He slept upright all night. The door and the curtain in the room had to be open and the TV was on all night too. Don has been real quite since we arrived at the hospital. I know that he is still having issues from what happened in ICU.

The ortho doctor came in a little after 5:00 this morning. He said if the drain tubes and the wound vac doesn't put out a whole lot of drainage today and tonight Don could get discharged back to Rehab tomorrow. Dr. Karunaker (ortho surgeon) said they same thing with the added stipulation that we had to wait to see what the cultures turned up. Please pray that there are no other infections anywhere in Don's body. Don had been complaining after surgery and through the night that his left hand was hurting since they had changed the cast just before surgery yesterday. The casting department came back and loosened it up and immediately the pain went away. They wrapped it again and it seems to be doing fine. We also asked Dr. K about the range of motion on his left leg and he said there was no limits on range of motion on his leg on no weight bearing at all. His right arm still has about a week before they would recommend weight bearing but that he should be able to push off with his right arm but not to put weight on it. He said when Don was back at rehab they should not have to use the Hoyer Lift. He also said that he would like to see Don sitting in a chair here in the room at the hospital. The nurse just popped in to say that OT was scheduled to come in today and work with his arms. She said that she would check to see if PT would be able to come in and get him up in a chair. They added the antibiotic from Rehab to his medicines here so that is 3 antibiotics he is on. Please just pray that there is no more infection in his body anywhere.