Well today is going much better than yesterday. Yesterday Dad was suffering from severe eye
pain, probably due to the erythromycin medication they are putting in his
eye. I talked with the nurse and doctor
last night and requested that they discontinue the use of that cream and it is
causing the severe pain. Dad said he was
doing much better today and his whole attitude is better when he is not in that
pain.
One of the interesting things yesterday, is I asked the
nurse that provides the medication to see what she was putting is Dad's
eye. I was right outside Dad's room
where she had a cart that she pulls medication and provides it to Dad. I was surprised to see that Dad's medication
is not in a single container, but just one of 50 medications in the drawer. The nurse would pick up various bags with descriptions
on them and throw them back in when they were the wrong one. She was able to show me the Lacri Lube and
erythromycin, but could not find the Refresh.
She found a bottle and showed it to me, but I pointed out that it had
someone else's name on it. She stated
they must have just run out and she would have to get more. I suspect they had not been giving the
Refresh, but I have nothing to base it on.
I did have a good meeting with the Dietician at Rosewood and
we worked on Dad's diet. They are going
to puree his lunch and dinner, but not his breakfast and he will get scrambled
eggs on a regular basis for breakfast. I
asked Dad how it went this morning and he said they pureed his eggs this morning. I talked to the dining room supervisor today
at lunch about breakfast and she said she would get it straightened out and
then they served Dad a pureed soup that was milk based, even though his lunch
slip said no milk products. Dad had
taken a couple of spoonfuls and really liked the soup, so he wasn't crazy about
it when I had them take it away. They
did replace it with Chicken Noodle soup, which he said was ok. I told Dad he needs to speak up when they
mess up his order, but I don't think he will and I am worried that they will
continue to need corrections.
I watched Dad do Occupational Therapy both yesterday and
today. He gets OT five times per week
and PT six times per week. He seems to
really enjoy it and they are excellent with him. Today I was in there when they had three
patients and I can tell you attitude is a big part of the healing process and
Dad has a great attitude. They gave Dad
a three pound bar and had him lift it over his head 10 times for three reps,
then he had to extended his arms holding the bar for 10 times with three
reps. The nurse then asked him to do the
same but curls and she had to go help a patient get into bed and said she would
be right back. Well Dad finished his
reps and then he decides to make up his own exercise, combining the lifting
motion over his head and then extending it straight out. He completed three reps before the therapist
came back. They have him standing and
taking steps, then holding a ball and twisting at his waist. He was a little unsteady at first, but
quickly was able to get and maintain his balance.
Dad is still sleeping about 18 hours a day and would sleep
more if he is not going to PT/OT and meals.
I was talking to him about trying to play 5 straight or creating a card
for Nicole on my laptop and he said he wanted to try the card for Nicole. By the time I got my computer out and powered
up, he was sleeping, so I let him sleep.
I just heard from Pam, the Social Activities Director that
the hygienist that Dad was suppose to see does not take medicare patients like
she told me they did. She said they were
looking into other options for Dad including bringing in the person John had
lined up and they would pay for it. When
she asked the cost, she gasped, so I am not sure what is going to happen. She was going to talk to her manager and let
me know. Jim, after John got someone
lined up, when I went to tell the nurse that we were bringing in someone, she
asked 'why aren't you using our hygienist?'
I told her that you were told they didn't have one and she said they
did. Well, it looks like they might not.
Today we saw Dr Heidari, he said Dads kidney function is
down to 18% and his platelet count is down to 45. He was very concerned about both. He asked what was the current plan for the
pet scan and we said that Dr Trang wanted to clear up the osteomyelitis before
proceeding with chemo, so we were not sure it made sense to move forward with
the pet scan. He reiterated his concern
regarding chemo, but then we discussed the gallium scan and pet scan. Both are very safe for Dad and should not
impact his kidneys. He said a MRI with
contrast would be the best test for Dad to see if the osteomyelitis is gone,
but that anything with contrast would be too hard on Dad's kidneys so the
gallium test is the safest and best test given Dad's condition. He also felt that if we wanted to do both
test that Dad should tolerate them both well and that we wouldn't need to wait
any specific time between tests. He also
said that he believes Dad will need at least another 4 weeks for antibiotics
and probably longer. And even when Dad's
test come back clear, that he will still recommend that Dad be given
antibiotics if he decides to move
forward with any chemo treatments.
Dad's gallium scan is scheduled for Oct 1st at 10 am with
follow up appointments at the 2nd and 3rd, but we do not have any specific
times as of yet.
Dr Heidari also felt that we should have Dr Saike see Dad
sooner rather than later as his kidney function is low plus his legs and
abdomen are swollen. Dad says his breathing
is not currently impacted, but this would be something to watch for over the
next week. Tom called Dr Saike's office
and his first available appointment is Oct 18th. Tom is working with his office to get that
date moved up. John said that he would be
willing to take Dad to the appointments and Tom thought that was a good idea.
Dr Heidari changed Dad's medication back to how they were
before moving him to Rosewood or the Heart Hospital. As of tonight he back on Daptomyacin every 48
hours and Zosyn every 6 hours. He was on
Zosyn 3.75mg and will now be on the 2.25mg.
Dr Heidari felt the Zyvox is not a good long term antibiotic and since
Dad has been having further eye problems that the Zyvox might be a contributing
factor. Tom asked if giving Dad the
Zosyn and Dapto over 4 hours was better or made no difference and Dr Heidari
said that it was a better way to administer the medication, but that it is not
good for a patient to be tied to a bed for so long. That is better if Dad can get up and move around
more and get some physical activity.
I am heading home tomorrow (Friday) about 1:00 pm and will
be back on Oct 1st unless I am needed sooner.
Jim, I changed the phone in Dad's room to the one he had at his house,
so if you call him he can put it on the speaker and should be able to hear you
well. We tried it with Cate and it
worked well. Cate is planning on coming
down around Oct 16th and staying until the morning of the 21st (this is still
tentative). Tom will be leaving on Oct
12th for 33 days or until Nov 15th. Jim
if you can give me an idea when you might be coming down, I will try and fill
in any missing gaps and John, I hope you don't mind covering the weekends
during this time period. John will take
Dad to any Dr Nguyen and Dr Saike appointments and Tom will take Dad to Dr
Heidari's appointments. I do not know if
either has plans for Dr Trang's appointments.
Dr Heidari is every week, and the others are every couple of weeks or as
needed. Oh and Tom has made an
appointment for Dad for an ophthalmologist, Dr Ling. This is a Dr that Dad used to go to. He did not like the eye doctor that we found
for him and so we are switching and going to try Dr Ling.
I am sure I am missing something, but it is late and
tomorrow is another day.
Love to all, Bill
