June 27th

From: Jim Harrer
Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2012 11:58 AM
To: John Harrer ; cate praggastis ; Tom Harrer ; Bill Harrer
Subject: Dad's update

Dad's spirits are good. He got up and went and had coffee with his
peeps. Neda, Al, Frank were happy to see him.

Changed his PICC dressing today. His vitals were:

Temp 98.4
BP 142/68
Pulse 77

Starting today, we're going to keep a log of each time he feels he has
a breathing issue. So far, none this morning.

...Jim

May 9, 2011 Update

Hi Everyone,

Dad is home and is looking awesome. His energy level is improving
daily. He's glad to be home, however he's already bitching about
missing Mary's cooking.

Today's doctor appointment with Dr. Nichols went well. Dr. Nichols
gave dad a full exam and redressed his incision and re-packed the
wicking. He told Tom that he has done an amazing job being a male
nurse and if it wants to make $38/hour - he's welcome to join his
medical staff. Tom's retirement is looking solid!

All kidding aside, now that I have watched the clean-up procedures
twice, I have a better understanding of what is going on. Tom has
achieved rock star status in my book.

Dad's vitals were good, BP 126/74, temp 97.2. He's in good spirits,
not in a lot of pain, more discomfort than anything. The swelling is
doing better but still has a way to go. Dr. Nichols asked to see him
again Friday at 11:45am.

Dr. Nichols said he wasn't too concerned over Dad's kidneys. He said
he didn't feel his elevated levels were in the dialysis range. He
also was blunt about the suggestion we place him on a new diet. He
said it is common for people to want to listen to a nutritionist and
try to fix things. He said, at 87 let him enjoy what he enjoys. To
Tom's point however, living on cookies and cereal is simply not
healthy. I get it though, cooking for one, especially for guys, is
pretty boring. I did go shopping last night and restocked his
kitchen. I totally understand a lot of it may go to waste - but I just
couldn't stand to see no real food in the house. Tom/Mary have done a
great job of making us aware of this; I'm not sure what the solution
is. I'm fearful if we have food deliver, he'll simply not eat it and
it will stack up. It might be a good idea to go grocery shopping for
him every 2 weeks anyway and also throw the dated stuff out. If it's
here, he might make better choices.

He's glad to be home, he wants to go to Grant's last baseball game
tonight (which Tom has green lighted) so things are looking good. He
gets to taste some of my home cookin tonight, so the pressure is on me
to deliver. I better go, I have to go turn on the food channel.

Love,

...Jim

May 5, 2011 Update

Update for Thursday morning. Health care nurse came and showed Tom how to change the dressings, yes I said Tom, and he did a very good job.

Heart rate 60
Temp 98.6
B.P. 136/68

He sleeps good, eats good, and looks good.

All is going good here.

Mary

May 2, 2011 Update

Dr. K just finished lancing Dad’s abscess. Mary said there was a lot of fluid inside. They did it right there in the hospital room and then packed it with some wicking material to draw out the infection. Dad was under a small amount of morphine for the pain and he tolerated the procedure well. If I had to speculate on what the next few days hold, I would say Dad will stay in the hospital, remain on antibiotics, and have the nurses change his dressing. There is some concern over his kidney function and there may be more on that in the coming days.

His blood pressure remains good and his temperature is back to normal.

That’s it for now,

John

Tom called with Dad’s recent vital signs:

Temp 97.1 down from 100.2 last night

BP 130/61

O2 Sat rate 97

Heart rate 60

There is fluid coming out of the incision that was done to remove lymph nodes. Doctors are supposed to come by this afternoon to evaluate and recommend solutions.

Mary was going to bring Dad some food from the outside so at least he would have a good lunch.

That’s it for now.

Love you,

j

March 29, 2011 Update

Well, we are still digesting this information:

Dad was scheduled to return to the surgeon who did the biopsy last week. That appt was for 2PM followed by a visit to Dr. M. at 3:20. Dr. M’s office called and said they cancelled the appt because the results didn’t show anything. As the kids might say, “WTF!?!”

Dr. Kay, the surgeon said the results did not indicate anything and that Dr. M would likely request another biopsy probably from under the left arm. If you listened to the audio with Dr. M. we asked where the first biopsy would be and he said he would leave that up to the surgeon. When pressed, he said that was the best way to go. Now, Tom and I remember him spending a lot of time under Dad’s left arm and wondered why he didn’t just go there first.

Dad says he’s done for awhile. It’s hard to blame him. Each part of this journey we’ve (or the Dr.) said, “Just this test and we’ll know exactly what’s up and be able to fix it.” And the results have always been another test. The inactivity from having the tests performed has probably affected his health more than whatever is going on. Okay, maybe that’s an exaggeration, but I don’t think we really know.

For now we believe he is going to take a break from the doctors. Tom asked him if he wanted to schedule an appt with Dr. Nichols and he declined. Nedra will be back on April 1 and we think that may really perk him up.

Love you,

John