Not For the Faint of Heart!

Friday night I was able to be there when the Orthopedist came to drain Dad's knee. I think Dad knew what to expect and was relieved. (He's had his knee drained years previously and can remember the relief it brings)

Dad's had a swollen knee for about a week now. It's been extremely painful for him to put pressure on it which makes it excruciating to stand on. Do remember that he has been on Lasiks also which makes him us the restroom much more than normal.

The doctor is cleaning the area with Beta dine.

Above, the doctor is numbing the area with a local anaesthesia.

When the doctor pulled out the needle from the anaesthesia, Dad's knee squirted fluid from the opening. Talk about pressure! You can see it shot a good distance on his bed. Man, I LOVE this stuff!

This needle was about the size of a coffee straw. Yipes! The fluid on his knee is fairly thick like honey.

You can see in this picture just how swollen his knee is. There is a good lump just above his knee cap. As the doctor was taking fluid I could see the swelling go down.

The doctor is un-screwing this syringe because it is full. When he pulled it away with the needle still in dad's knee, the fluid was still oozing. This was so intriguing!

I had to hold up the camera above my head and hope the picture turned out good. It was hard to take pictures because the doctor was really tall and he raised the bed to about my chest. Most of the pictures didn't turn out.

When the doctor thought he was getting to the end, he massaged around to make sure there was no more fluid left inside.

The doctor explained that 50 cc of fluid is a large amount.

There was 120 cc taken from dad's knee. Wow! I think that would be considered XXXXXXL!

The doctor held on the gauze for a while because of the large needle. He was very good to Dad, and had a great bed-side manner.

Dad I've really enjoyed our time together this week! I love you!

Another Win Under the Belt

Dad was able to walk to the restroom today! He used the restroom all day by himself with the aid of a walker. His knee is still very swollen and sore, but he has been doing great! He had physical therapy twice today and was able to go out in the hall a little. I think it was good for him to expand his mind for two minutes with new walls to look at. Dad's mother, Margaret, was able to visit him yesterday and today. It was really good to see her and she was great to have around. I think today was another win for Dad. He is doing so great, let us hope and pray that this trend continues. He loves the visitors, cards, prayers, and kind words. Thanks to all.

Winning... But Still A Battle

Yesterday when I went in, He and Jenny were both reading the paper. So Cute!
Dad has been doing better, but his body is playing catch-up. He was EXTREMELY tired from a bad night. All He wanted to do was sleep. The physical therapy trainers came to help him move and do some exercises with his legs. He hasn't been able to walk for almost a week now, but is trying to become mobile. He is doing good pushing through the pain. Dad was a good sport with all the nurses coming in for the next couple of hours, then came the lasiks. FINALLY after some great lunch brought by Doug, he was able to catch some shut-eye for about an hour.

Dad says he is tired of whining, but I think he has been great at enduring it well. He really doesn't complain other than a couple of winces from the pain in his legs. He still has a sense of humor, and has been very patient. You're doing great Dad, keep up the good work.

A Good Day

I think today was a good day. The doctor said the numbers in his blood look good, and if he is able to clear up the infection in his legs he could possibly be released this coming weekend. Dad was very excited with the prospect. He did some exercises in bed to try and get more blood flowing to his legs. He wanted to have the physical therapist help him get up and walk, but they didn't get there before I left. It seems like he is willing to do whatever he needs to get better. Keep up the good work Dad.

Uncle Doug, Mom, Jenny, and Nick have worked very hard on the S.S. and Insurance. Thanks to Doug for helping so much with the "nitty gritty" concerning insurance. Dad is really blessed to have so many people looking out for him. You are loved Dad!

Catching Up

His infection from his ankle mad a sore on his joint by the big toe.

Back when he could sit in his chair.

Brushing his teeth.

These pictures are from a few days ago. I thought I'd still post them so we didn't miss anything. Today I was able to be with Dad for most of the day. When I got there he just wanted to rest. He was so exhausted and wanted to sleep. He was able to get about a half hour of shut eye before the nurse came in again for vitals. After that he was up and talking good for about 2 1/2 hours. Nick came up (great timing!!!) to visit during lunch and was able to get Dad into the wheelchair. What a workout for him! Whew! I'm glad it was him ;] Rodney and Virginia Parsons came to see him for a minute then we sauntered down a couple of halls. Nick was able to help him back to bed before returning to work. THANKS NICK! He was given lasiks again. I think we should slip some lasiks into the DR's drink next time he visits for a sample of his own medicine. There is only one time I thought it was funny. After being up and out of bed he was extremely tired. He fell asleep for about 10 minutes before he woke up with a start and scrambled to get to his side. He grabbed his carton and filled it half full... it had to be at least a half a liter. Good job Dad. It was only cute because it reminded me of Annabelle waiting 'till the last second then doing a jiggidy jig while pulling down her pants. I love ya Dad. Our prayers are with you. Have a wonderful night.

KEEP POSTING

THANK YOU FOR EVERYONE THAT IS POSTING TO THE BLOG !!!!! We are the eyes and ears to the outside world. Everyone can keep up on dad if we post, so just keep posting.

THANK YOU ALL VERY MUCH.
Nick

The good comes with the bad.

So today was up and down, good and bad. As you can read in the last post dad is going to have some good and some bad. His ankle is still swollen but not as bad, his knee is still swollen but not as bad. He didnt sleep very good last night so he was very tired and a little irritable this morning when I got there. I tried to talk to him and he was not making sense. He started a sentance, couldnt finish it, tried talking and would fall asleep, asked questions halfway between snores and had to pee but couldnt get out of bed to do it. I guess to put it nicely, he was in left field, la la land and just not himself. Katie had been up there before me and had said the same thing, Dad was drifting in and out of conversation, falling asleep in the middle of a sentance (thats not new for dad though, remember when we were kids and he did that :) Anyway, Katie tried to keep him company and he was just to tired and was on new meds and just couldnt stay awake at all.

I went up this morning and that was the experience I had while there, dad was tired, couldnt sit up, finish sentances etc. Actually this morning he was trying to use the restroom and had 2 nurses help him and they werent able to help him enough and wound up hurting themselves and having to fill out incident reports with strained arms. He just cant put any weight on his legs with hurt ankles and knees.

I went back up to the hospital tonight around 9:30 and mom was there, the room was totally changed around, they had put his bed against the wall and cleared his room out so he could spin cookies in his wheelchair (ok not exactly) but dad was in a wheelchair, mom and him had been around the hospital a couple times going up and down the different halls, dad was much happier, he could talk full sentances, was asking good questions, was making sense. He had a couple nurses come in his room tonight and help him with a couple things and they even said he was doing MUCH better this evening. He was able to use the restroom by himself, walk from the restroom to the bed which was about 8 feet and that is a GREAT distance an inch at a time. He did GREAT. He was drinking more water and juices and was just feeling better, you could tell. His spirits this morning were not good, he was irritated, frustrated, maybe a little angry and pretty down. I bet its from all the meds and the lack of sleep etc.

When I was leaving around 11:30 he had gotten back in bed and had a new set of clothes on (a gown) and was feeling much better. He was joking more and giving mom a hard time. The nurses were giving him meds for the night and taking his vitals. The reason he didnt sleep good last night was because they have to check him all the time, take his vitals, give different meds and like tonight they gave him "Lasix" and that makes him loose water, AKA, he had to PEE A LOT.

So picture this, your not in your own bed, your lights are on then off, the door is open then closed, the nurse is taking vitals, your going to the bathroom every 15 minutes, you get done using the restroom and you have to go again, you have just tucked yourself back into bed and the nurse comes to see why you called her and you realize that its cause after going to the bathroom the pull cord got stuck in your gown so she leaves and you try to close your eyes for a second, nature calls again and after that you have to drink something with the new set of meds and then nature calls again. You take care of nature before it takes care of you and you get back in bed. You try to go to sleep and the morning nurse comes in all bright eyed and bushy tailed for the day asking how your night was and the only thing you can ask for is a hand up so you can go back to the bathroom.

And if you have kids then you know this ritual :)........... If you wonder why he is so tired, that is why.

Keep him in your prayers as I know we all are. At this point he is doing better but is not out of the woods yet, We meet with his doctors again tomorrow and have appointments with social security office and other stuff this week. Everyone is pitching in to do there part and that is much appreciated.

WE LOVE YOU FOREVER AND EVER DAD. Get some rest :)