End of September Report

Back in the Hospital

Dad was checked back into the hospital on Thursday, Sept 27th, by his podiatrist  Dr. Jon Smedley.  During his stay at Longhorn Village skilled nursing facility, he was healing but at a slow pace.  After 2 weeks of hyperbaric treatment and a wound vac and 3 different antibiotics, the podiatrist was not happy with the way the wound looked on the bottom of his foot.  There was a part that looked worse, while most was healing.  He ordered an MRI and more cultures and found that his 5th toe (pinky) had infection in the bone that was not there the week before.  Puzzling.  So, Dr. Smedley felt he needed to be extremely aggressive and get Dad in the hospital on a drip IV with a stronger antibiotic, and then remove the bone on the 5th toe, possibly the 4th toe aswell.

Surgery 

Dad went in for the procedure Saturday morning early, and the podiatrist removed the bone in the 5th toe, but left the 4th toe alone, since he didn't see any infection there.  He will be in the hospital through the weekend, and possibly Monday / Tuesday.

Change of venue...

Feel free to call him.  He is at Cedar Park Regional Hospital, (in Cedar Park :).. Room 2205.  I know he is resting most of today, but Sunday will be up for a call from family & friends.

He is tired of feeling tired, poked and cut on... ready to be healed.

Keep him in your prayers.

Love to all!

Tuesday, Sept. 4th

Long Pause

Sorry to have taken so long to get information out.  Moving Dad and a Holiday Weekend to follow, makes for a very long weekend!

So, Dad is in Longhorn Village and you can reach him at 512.992.0283.  

This rings directly into his room and he will most likely answer on speaker phone.

• Check it out at http://www.longhornvillage.com/health   He is in Casa Mesquite.  
• His cell phone is irritating him and I think it's just too small to operate.  So call the room number to chat.   He moved in on Thursday evening of last week.  Friday was an adjustment day.   I took his clothes and other needs, along with Rosie, to his room.  She is actually doing really well with him and all the aides and nurses really like her company.  (Thank Goodness for that!!)

Looking Better

Dad is definitely looking better.  He has a large wound in the bottom of his foot still, with a wound vac attached.  We have mostly been prodding the staff along on staying in touch with all entities involved in dad's healing.  The endocrinologist has to approve the insulin dosage, the podiatrist has to  prescribe 'wound care' at the Wound Care Center, then we make arrangements to get dad ready and travelling to that center.  It's an intricately woven plan and challenging keeping all the people in the loop that need to participate.  Poor dad treats me like a secretary and I had to tell him today (in no uncertain terms) that I can work for him on MY time but keeping the 4 other people in my life organized was a real challenge as well.  He has the ability to make calls and receive them so I needed him to start calling whoever he felt he needed to talk to and schedule a few things for himself, instead of griping to me and trying to get me to pounce!  This tells me he is thinking pretty clearly too.

Feel free to email and ask any questions I have not answered.  Call or text me if you need to..  512 569 9617

Love to all!
Amber