WOO HOO!!! After months of preliminary work, praise God we finally got the first portion of paperwork filled out for social security disability...it was a beating; but, it's done! Next step, an appointment with the SS office; something fun to look forward to on my Spring Break! I know there will be more paperwork from there.
Yesterday we had a little concern when Ron got up feeling pretty crummy. I came home from running errands around noon to find he had a temp of 100.8; not good! Our first thought was PICC line. I took him to our family physician's on call doctor at their after hours clinic where they first thought he had the flu; but he didn't have a cough, sore throat or congestion--just the fever with joint and body aches. He tested negative for both strain A & B so they did bloodwork which revealed his white blood cell count was 17,700. Since there was no clear cut evidence as to what we were dealing with we were told to give him Tylenol and if he got worse to go to ER at Presby. Praise the Lord this morning he got up feeling much better and has had no fever. Crazy!
Anywho,
Good news:
I can tell TPN is DEFINITELY helping. He still has a desire to eat "real food" but knowing he is receiving good nutritional supplement has taken the pressure off of feeling he has to force himself to constantly be eating or drinking which also relieves the fear of vomiting. He is now back to doing his physical therapy on an almost daily basis and taking at least 2 walks a day (instead of spending all of his days dozing in the recliner! ) Even the kids have said they can tell he is more engaged in what is going on as opposed to having no energy/desire to join in on conversations. He has even spent several afternoons sitting outside visiting with our neighbors while I did yardwork.
He has gained about 10 pounds and has kept it pretty stable for the last few weeks.
Ongoing issues:
Edema is still a problem and by the end of the day, his legs are quite large (as always, especially his left).
He is also having alot of heartburn (combined with the chronic reflux) which has led to several episodes of vomiting bile; but being back to just liquids has reduced vomiting episodes from daily (or several times a day) to a few times a week.
Experiencing problems with PICC line, homehealth nurse was been unable to draw blood from it last week and each time she stuck him, the vein "blew". We're able to flush the line and TPN has no problem going in, it just won't draw. Nurse will try again with PICC line on Monday, but if it won't draw he'll have to go to IR at Presby.
We have an appointment with Dr. S and Dr. A on Wednesday, March 11 to discuss thoughts now that we know the extent of the intestinal tethering from adhesions/scar tissue. Please pray for discernment as well as peace.
A couple weeks ago, as I was sitting in the waiting area at Baylor searching for some word of comfort/hope; God led me to this verse:
"though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again..." Proverbs 24:16
which reminded me of Hebrews 12:12 (NLT) which says:
"So take a new grip with your tired hands and stand firm on your shaky legs."
No mattter our circumstances, God holds us in His hands and it is in His strength that WE WILL rise again.
Much love to all of you!
Christie
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