| March 31, 2004 Jake is back at Lexington Nursing home. He has a staph infection in his wound - probably from his recent debridement procedure. And since his (assisted living) apartment building will not allow a PICC line, or IV, he must return to the nursing home. |
| He was upset about it, but nothing keeps him down for long. |
| Kathie and Larry visited him over the weekend. Terri was going to visit over Easter but since he'll still be in the nursing home she has postponed it for a couple weeks. |
| Hopefully once this ulcer heals (it will, it must) he will be able to lead a fairly normal life again. This has been plaguing him for about a year now, seriously hurting and disabling him for >6 months. |
| He has been fortunate in having a retired Pastor visit him once a week. He enjoys the talks with Pastor Ed very much. He's also talking about college again. For the past 6 (or so) months he's had nothing on his mind but pain and nausea. Now he is seeing about enrolling in a community college for the first two years and then transferring to State college. He still talks about becoming a psychologist but is a little intimated about all the years it would take. I told him to take the basics first - then he can decide. |
| On Thursday he and two friends are going to a concert. Can't remember the name of the performer. He is very excited about that. |
| April 25, 2004 Jake is coming home for a visit! I don't know who is more excited. Jake or me. It has to coordinate with Bou's last day of school so we are probably talking about the 3rd week in May. He has not been home since Christmas of 2002 because of his many medical problems, mostly the ulcer but also the infections. |
| He still has prostatitis - is on another antibiotic but at least it doesn't have to be given via IV so he is not back in the nursing home. |
| He is having a ton of problems with his computer. Hopefully when he visits he will bring it along and we can try to figure out some of the problems. |
| Jake has already warned me not to be upset when I see him. "I am rather skinny". . |
| May 04, 2004 They found MRSA in Jake's wound (again) so back to the nursing home tomorrow. (it's his second home) |
| May 23, 2004 Jake will be discharged from the nursing home (Lexington) next Tuesday. The picc line was removed yesterday afternoon. The cultures came back negative. |
| The latest plan is that he will be coming home (to Oconomowoc) to visit on June 1st. This will be his first visit since Dec of 2002 and he is extremely excited. |
| We talked on the phone for a while yesterday and I had him in utter terror for about 5 seconds. I told him that I took that week off from work so I could spend every minute with him. It was so much fun to listen to him talk his way out of that. But of course he knew I wouldn't do that, but on the other had, he knows I'm capable of doing weird things. It was fun. :) |
| He is feeling well, and looking forward to visiting with all his friends. |
| May 30, 2004 Terri, Kathie and Larry drove up to New Brighton yesterday. Terri took the van because she is bringing Jake home for a visit. They had a wet, windy drive but arrived safely in early afternoon. |
| In anticipation of Jake's visit - his first since December of 2002, I decided to buy a 'welcome home' banner and some balloons, intending to string both of them on the front of the house. Well, Terri looked at the balloons and informed me that I had purchased 'water' balloons and that they were too small for my intended use. |
| So I have been pondering on whether or not it's worth it to get Jake wet. It would be Oh so much fun, but then Terri would have the burden of transferring him to his bed and changing wet clothes. So I decided to get Terri with the balloon instead. :) :) I'd have fun, and Jake would consider it the high point of his visit. But it wasn't meant to be. I cannot get that little balloon over the faucet and I can't figure out any other way to fill it with water. |
| June 1, 2004 Jake said "Grandma, I just want to warn you, I'm a little thin". I should have asked him to define "a little". I was shocked. He weighs 120# - squeeze that over a 6'1" to 2" frame. (We don't really know how tall he is) His wrist is a little under 6-1/4". |
| The good news is he's home - he's happy. |
| June 20, 2004 Jake left for home on the 4th. Terri took a 'long' cut through Minoqua so Jake could have a small vacation. |
| The vacuum pump wound care system is not closing that wound. It's smaller, but not closed. I think it might be because of the numerous MRSA infections he keeps getting. Now that he is home they are going to try a new treatment which I will explain in future posts. As Jake explains it "they take my blood, mix it with squishy stuff, and then pack the wound." :) |
| Jake called today. He said the vac treatment is working fairly well. The wound has shrunk 1.5cm, from 4.5cm to 3cm. Also there is tissue covering the bone now. This is such good news. Music to a grandma's ears. :) |
| He is in good spirits. Told me he had his appetite back: "there was 1/2 pan of brownies left and I ate them all". OK, so now we talk about the food pyramid. |
| Terri took some pictures of his wound while he was here but to tell the truth, I haven't looked at them yet. It hurts my whole insides to look at that wound. |