| Thursday, October 10th The Courage Center called about 4:00 a.m. today. They told Terri that Jake was admitted to the hospital this a.m. Apparently he had a high fever all night and the nurse couldn't get it to go down, so she sent Jake to the ER and they admitted him. |
| He has a UTI - don't know what the infection is yet, but the count was so high that they were able to diagnosis UTI immediately. It is also possible that he has cellulitis in left lower leg. This is questionable - they are waiting for test results. It could be from the high fever. |
| They told Terri that Jake is in ICU, but not to worry - he's only there because there are no other beds available. |
| While eating, Jake received an injury to his esophagus earlier this month - we first feared it was another tear but he has been examined by ENT doc and she thinks they are only 'scratches', but she still scheduled Jake for a swallow study (for today). Obviously, that has been postponed. |
Tuesday, Oct 15th Jake is still in the hospital. He has an ugly infection called MRSA, which is a staph infection. He is in isolation, and very miserable. There are very few antibiotics that can conquer MRSA, and the one he is on is doing a number on his digestive tract. He is bedridden so now we must also worry about skin ulcers. |
| He will probably have an EGD on Thursday while he is still hospitalized and then hopefully on Friday he can return to the Courage Center. An EGD is a scope that is inserted into his mouth, then snakes through his upper digestive tract to his duodenum. They suspect that he has stomach ulcers and the EGD will determine this. EGD - esophago-gastro-duodenoscopy. (esophagus, stomach, small intestine) |
Sunday, Oct 20th Jake was discharged from the hospital Friday afternoon. They placed a pic line in his arm so he can receive the antibiotics at the Courage Center. They will not place IV's there, and Jake would have been forced to stay an inpatient at the hospital if the pic line had not been inserted. |
| You may recall that a pic line is a long tube (catheter) that is inserted into the upper arm and then threaded to a chest artery or vein (don't remember which). |
| The EGD did not find an ulcer, in fact it was a negative test. The ENT doc took pictures during the procedure and gave one to Jake. Since the exam did not find a cause of his nausea and stomach symptoms, they will have to pursue other diagnostics, but they are not going to do this until he is better (from the UTI/MRSA). |
| Jake is also complaining of constant dizziness. The cause is unknown - it may or may not be an adverse reaction from the antibiotic. |
| Meanwhile, in Oconomowoc, the remodeling of my garage into a room for Jake is progressing. The floor has been raised, with heat runs underneath. They are huge, black, plastic-like, flexible tubes that snake under the floor. The garage door is now a wall with a window and a door. The back garage door, which opened into the back yard, is now a window. |
| My computer room, which opened into the garage, is now framed out for Jake's bathroom. Yes, he's getting a bathroom! No more baths/showers in the kiddie pool in the middle of his bedroom. :) |
Sunday, Oct 27th Jake is feeling much better, almost normal (for him). He lost a lot of weight - he's down to about 142#. We encouraged him to try to maintain that weight so he might be able to transfer himself but he was told that without tendon transfers he would probably never be able to transfer himself without some degree of help. |
| He has shed those ugly white hand braces that I disliked so much. He has mastered grasping (large) things without them. |
| Since returning to the Courage Center from the hospital he has had problems with dysreflexia when he gets put into bed at night. So now we are trying to figure out what the cause might be. |
| The hospital stay was a good lesson for Jake. He had to express his needs to health care professionals that were not savvy in spinal cord injuries. It was a good learning experience for both sides. At the Courage Center Jake relied on the nurses/aides to automatically know what his needs were and at the hospital he had to request his daily cares, his special needs. |
| We are slowly progressing with the construction. It's a waiting game. The electrician must wait till the plumber comes who must wait for the heating guy who must wait for the..... - you get the idea. |
| I plan on posting some pictures so Jake can see the progress. I will probably add a link but unless you are familiar with the house (pre-construction) it probably won't make much sense (yet). |
Friday, November 15th Jake was told that he has gallstones but they don't plan on doing anything about that at this time. It might wait until he is discharged from the Courage Center. Gallstones would definitely explain his frequent bouts with dysreflexia. |
| We are hoping that he can come to Oconomowoc for Christmas. The Courage Center discourages long, frequent visits home so he would only stay for a few days. This would be his first visit home since May 1st, when he went to the Courage Center. |
| Yesterday the construction workers returned and insulated the garage/Jake's room. They blew insulation under the floor. They also finished the subfloor. This is progressing slowly but surely. |
Saturday, Nov 16th, 2002 Jake is restricted to his bed for a while. The cushion on his power chair broke/deflated, and he still has a skin ulcer on his butt, so he must stay in bed until the sore heals, or we get his spare cushion to him. (that will be next Wednesday, the earliest). |
| Thank you for your prayers. |