What a Day!!

The speech therapist saved the day. She came in bright and early to tell us that Jon was going to have his hands full just going through the debridement procedure for his bedsore so they moved his swallowing test to Thursday. Jon had some trouble getting a thought across to me so the respiratory tech fixed it so he could talk for just long enough to get that message through to us. ..and that took care of checking his voice. He thought it was nice and strong so maybe we’ll get to the passy muir valve tomorrow and we can have real conversations.

From the doctor’s point of view the debrident went well. From Jon’s point of view it was something he doesn’t want to go through ever again. He asked, “why did you do this to me” and also remarked he was sure he was dying. I tried to get him calmed down by finishing reading “Three Cups of Tea” to him. It’s the story of Greg Mortenson, a mountain climber who didn’t quite succeed in climbing K2 in Pakistan. He got lost coming down the mountain--twice actually--and was nursed back to health by the villagers of Korphe. When he discovered the children had no school building, practiced their time tables in the dirt and even on days without a teacher and only had that teacher 3 days a week because the village couldn’t afford a full time teacher he promised to come back and build them a school. Greg struggled to get enough money for the project and the book tells of how he expanded and built quite a few more schools not only in Pakistan but in Afghanistan. Jon found it quite interesting. I’m not sure what book we will start on next. Tomorrow they will decide about putting a VAC on his bedsore. Cross your fingers that it is in pristine condition!!

Got the written report on Jon’s MRI and there seems to be a problem with semantics when reading the report. The doctor here said the report indicated osteomyelitis and started him on the antibiotic Premaxin
delivered intravenously. The report uses the phrase “suggests osteomyelitis.” So we asked that while they were performing the procedure today they take a sample for a culture to determine what was causing the infection with the two possibilities that we fear the most: staph and e-coli. (Not that the other causes wouldn’t be scary, we just aren’t familiar with them.)

Jon seems in a better mood this evening so I’ll close for now. Be sure to read the post below as it was supposed to be put on this morning. Without internet at the hospital or home I’m typing these reports one place and Barb is supposed to get on line at school and do the posting. This will work as long as she isn’t swamped the minute she walks through the school door. (I, Barb, did not get it posted today - my apologies).

Thanks for “dropping in.”