It's been a relatively calm week. It has been frustrating to see so little progress in healing the bedsore. He has a marvelous air bed which works by activating air coils and turns him all by itself! He finds the turning process rather painful and voices his objection adamantly when it's done manually. With this bed you push a couple of buttons and the bed deflates on one side and pumps up on the other and walah...there you are!
To speed the healing process they have installed a VAC on the bedsore and it pumps out the infection as it forms. So far there has been little collected which they inform me is a good sign. It also protects the bedsore from contamination. I've managed to talk them into discontinuing the stool softener and including some fiber but he's still on the tube feeding. His cultures came back negative for pneumonia which is also a good sign although they thought they would continue with the antibiotic for a few days more.
On the disappointing side-- since his physical therapy has been limited both in time and the amount of activity-- he's rather weak. Too weak, in fact, to go back to Dodd. They want to transfer him to an entirely different facility...another Long Term Acute Care Hospital (LTACH)like the one in Green Springs, only about a mile away. They also use the VAC on bedsores which is a plus since I was quite upset since we had just started him on a process that seemed to me to be a sure cure...and the bedsore is a problem for Dodd also.) We're just waiting for an open bed. We'll let you know when that actually happens. In the meantime check with us if you think you're coming this way.
Thanks for looking in....
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