Beautiful day in the neighborhood!

Last night's IR, though long, accomplished the task! PICC was able to be placed in right arm, praise God! It was quite complicated (go figure!), with Dr. D having to use a balloon to widen vein in order to allow PICC to travel along. Ron arrived back to his room midnight(ish) and it was after 1 before they were able to get him settled in, meds administered and TPN started.

Today, I got my first peek at the incision site on his neck as the neurosurgeon examined it and then as his nurse removed the drainage tube and taught me how to perform dressing change. It's really not that bad, a nice little row of staples. However, I must confess, it's a little daunting knowing I'm messing with an unstable neurological area since they had to remove a disc; and the fact that his esophagus is sore from being moved. YIKES! He will have staples removed 10 days post-op; and will most likely be able to get rid of the collar at that time.

Infection disease doctor reported he was surprised to find that as of today (Thursday) disc sample is growing staph, as well as the other unknown nasty bug, therfore will need to be on Vancomycin for at least 6 weeks. Whatever antibiotic is best suited to other bacteria will be added when we have specifics. This was a surprise in that staph bacteria typically show up much sooner and this one was really slow-growing.

Gallium scan came back completely clear. This was another huge surprise in that it didn't even "light up" in the area of the known infection sites. Gallium scan uses isotopes (radioactive material) to look for inflammation, infection, or cancer in the body. The isotopes will gravitate to these types of area. They were anticipating "hot spots" running along the left arm where the (infected) PICC was located; in his neck where the big infection is located and even in places where he has arthritis, as well as his lumbar region where he has the bulging disc. Absolutely nothing! So crazy!

On the whole, it was a pretty decent day! We were able to take a couple of good walks (without assistance of walker) , even went outside in the afternoon for a bit to enjoy the beautiful sunshine!

As long as he has a good night and no other issues come up; we are on target to go home tomorrow. Not really looking forward to having to learn to administer IV antibiotic, or be responsible for one more medical thing; but, oh how we've missed our home; our comfort zone!

Here's to a good night!

Love, Christie