Jon called me tonight and asked if I was coming over, I told him I was on my way. He said he had good news and bad news.
Good news: When I got there, he told me about his trip to the ENT (Ear, Nose, Throat Dr.) yesterday (Tuesday). His trach was totally taken out!!! He said it went very well, no hitches. He said he is able to swallow much better and can bend his neck without the trach getting in the way. When he took a drink, he was supposed to tip his head down so the fluid would not go down the wrong pipe. Those instructions have been removed.
Bad news: He has major wax build up in both ears. The last visit to the ENT (when they put a size 4 trach in) the Dr. had requested that they flush Jon's ear with a peroxide flush to soften the ear wax. The nursing facility apparently never got those instructions and his ears had not been flushed. The ENT cleaned the left ear and it was easier to get out. The right ear was too hard yet. They have given new instructions to flush the ear again. Jon has a follow up appointment with him in 2 weeks again. He is now able to hear out of his left ear. Jon has been complaining about that being his bad ear and that he has not been able to hear out of it very well. Now his "good" ear has become the "bad" ear.
Bad news: We knew that the wound was getting deeper. It has been confirmed for Jon. It is not getting bigger, but deeper. The wound doctor doesn't know how deep it is yet. They will do an x-ray on Thursday morning to find out just how deep it is(The Dr wants to see if it is back to the bone or not). Unfortunately, this particular spot will be susceptible to bed sores as the muscle is already gone and they have not put a skin flap over it yet so it is very tender. As a result of it going deeper, the Dr. has ordered a couple of things: 1) in order to take pressure totally off the bottom, Jon will be put to bed 3-4 times during the day. He will get up in the morning and eat breakfast, then go to bed for about an hour where he will be put on his side. Then he will get up again, sit in his chair for about 2 hours which will be over lunch time, go back to bed and get up for supper. Then he will go back to bed for the night. They said the Dr. wanted him to get him up again one more time but that would be within an hour of his normal bed time so he will just stay in bed for the night. 2) The wound vac is back. 3) The Dr. has ordered the bed that has the silicone beads in it. I have mixed feelings on this. I still say that it can't do it's job with a wound vac on. The last one wasn't working right as the beads weren't bouncing much anymore. If you aren't going to let it work right then why get it. They feel that it is a preventive but what we need right now is a treatment. But it's not up to me.
I think I have remembered everything.
An update on Mom. Her sister, Susan, picked her up on Tuesday and took her to their mother's house in Michigan. Mom is trying hard now to overdue it but not using either elbow or the left wrist is not easy and she is overdoing it. She ran out of the pain pills last Thursday (the Er only gave her a script for 12 pills) and did not get a new prescripion until Monday so her weekend was pretty painful.
Thanks for checking in.
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