Sunday, March 25, 2012

It's amazing what a difference removal of 'dirty' PICC line along with 48 hours on big gun IV antibiotics makes!

Happy to hear from Interventional Radiology doctor that new PICC went in without a hitch. AND he has had no episodes since noon Friday! Praise God!

Now, we wait to see what cultures grow and go from there.

Thank you for your prayers on our behalf.

Friday, March 23, 2012

The fun continues...

Rough 24 hours around here...Ron has had 3 episodes where he has been hit with a sudden onset of symptoms including fever spike, chills, tremors, severe muscle cramps in legs and severe pain in neck, back and down spine. The episode lasts 15-20 minutes and ends as quickly as it has come on. Each episode has been more intense and has lasted longer than the ones previous. It's so crazy, when he's in the midst of one, it is horrendous; other than when he's been in recovery after surgery, I've never seen such intense trembling. However, shortly after it ends, he feels back to "Ron normal" (other than stiffness in his neck, which has been pretty constant since surgery).

Of course, first culprit they look at is PICC line as his symptoms point to line sepsis (infection in bloodstream of the PICC line).

Fortunately, yesterday he had follow-up appointment (from surgery in Jan) with infectious disease doctor. They did cultures on both lines of his PICC as well as the opposite arm to see how things are going now that he's been off the vancomycin for a week. As of this evening, ALL cultures had already begun to grow something, indicating he definitely has an infection. As of tonight they have re-initiated IV vancomyacin and added another IV antibiotic he will take twice daily. He will have his current PICC (only two months old) removed and another placed in a different area tomorrow.

Please pray for a restful night with no episodes. And as we go to Presby tomorrow for PICC replacement; our 3rd "visit" this week! Ugh. And join me in praising God for our fabulous doctors (and their medical staff) we are truly blessed to have. They are so wonderful to always make themselves accessible to us. We appreciate them for this as well as their expertise, coupled with their compassion and kindess.

Thanks so much! We appreciate your faithful prayers on our behalf.

It's here!!! Ron tells his story

Love it when my hubby shares!. Though a very condensed version, Ron eloquently shared with our youth group a few weeks ago. Below are his th...