Fall, 2003, p.3

 

Friday, Nov 28th

Jake spent Thanksgiving day alone, in bed.  But last night he had company.  He called us often during the day as he was both bored and lonely.  When Terri and I visited a few weeks ago we filled his freezer with roast turkey, stuffing and gravy.  Also slices of pumpkin pie.  So last night he and his friend raided the freezer.  Of course he ate the pumpkin pie first.  (his mother does this all the time).  When Terri asked him why he ate the pie first, he replied “because I live alone and I can do what I want”.  Whoa!

 

Terri’s doing quite well.  She is very bruised – even her doc was surprised at the size of the bruises.  She has been spending her days going from living room chair to bathroom to bed, etc. 

 

A few nights ago the bandage on Jake’s wound came loose, which triggered the vacuum wound machine to go off.  He had to make an emergency phone call to the nurse. 

 

His upset tummy is back, and so is his crappy eating habits.  duh!

 

Tuesday, Dec 9th

Jake’s doing ok with his wound.  Unfortunately he has developed two more ulcers – one on his ankle and one on his hip.  This is from laying on right side all the time.  So now he is laying flat for a while too.  He sure is getting sick of his bed.

 

Terri went to work yesterday for a couple hours.  Today too.  (her surgery was two weeks ago)

 

Saturday, Dec 13th

I found out today that they have been taking Polaroid shots of Jake’s wound.  Hopefully when Terri visits later this month she will bring them home and I can scan them.  They also are measuring the wound.  Last week it was 6 x 8 centimeters and this week it is down to 4 x 6.3 cm.  This is very good news.  At this rate he will definitely be able to have the graft surgery next month. 

 

Saturday, Dec 20th

On Thursday Jake spent 4 hours in his chair – he had a doc appointment.  For the past few months he normally is in his bed about 23 hrs each day, only getting up occasionally for (very) short periods.

 

Yesterday (Friday) Jake called – he’s back at Abbott hospital.  I think they know him by first name in their ER now.  He was experiencing pain in his back, and yesterday it spread into his legs – an intense burning pain.  So they admitted him to run tests.  He had a CT scan yesterday but we haven’t heard any results yet.  Guesses include a malfunction of his Baclafen pump – maybe due to his almost total bed rest status.   Except he is neither sleeping or having major spasms.  We suspect that whatever this is, it is partly or totally due to that.

 

He is discouraged.  That in itself is alarming because he rarely is ‘down’.  He is the one who comforts and encourages me when I worry about his disability.  

 

Well, we were right about the bed rest status.  He has a pulled muscle in his low back (probably) due to the 4 hours spent in his chair on Thursday.

 

He is in much better spirits this afternoon.  He is going home later today.

 

I joked with him and said that most Grandmas were baking cookies right now.  I’m making tater tot casseroles!  He grinned (I could hear his grin) and he said “I love you I love you I love you!”   I freeze them in serving size portions and all he has to do is ask an aide to zap it for him.

 

Rollercoaster was a short ride this time. 

 

Monday, Dec 23rd
 Jake was back in Abbott ER again yesterday.  Same symptoms, -  low back pain, burning (muscle?) pain radiating into his thighs.  On Saturday the DX was a pulled muscle, and now the docs say that he also has an E.Coli kidney infection that is  exacerbating his low back pain.  They do not think that any of this is connected to his Baclafen pump.  Today he is seeing the pump doc.  Maybe the issue will be resolved.

 I am in the process of going through all the old posts.  I am making a time-line for us.  Very time-consuming, but interesting.  It is amazing what one forgets. 

Sunday, Dec 28th
Terri and Jake had a wonderful Christmas together.  She got back yesterday.  She brought some Polaroids that were taken of Jake’s ulcer, before the surgery and after.  Actually the ‘after’ pictures look worse because the wound is bigger, but it is not infected any more – and it is healing right on schedule.   The photos are very unsettling to look at.  It hurts me to look at them.  Terri said that when the nurse let her look at Jake’s ulcer she was prepared, but it still made her catch her breath.

 The nurse is a specialist in wound care and says that it is healing very nicely.  The doc said that he wanted to see Jake again in 3 weeks.  He didn’t schedule any flap graft surgery so we don’t know where we are with that.

 Jake’s computer, a notebook, is in need of repair.  Terri brought it back and took it to Gateway and it looks like there won’t be any problems.  So Jake is computer-less for about two weeks.