After a long, tiring ordeal, we are finally home! Bill actually told me to drive faster so he could get home sooner. Tyler and I got to the hospital this morning and coincidentally the doctor came in right after. His white blood cell count went down slightly. They got his counts from the City of Hope and they are actually lower now than they were two weeks ago when he went for a check-up. He looks and feels SO much better, it really is a miracle that drugs can work so quickly. That is the good news!
The results of the culture came back as a staph infection. They don't know yet if it is a "bad" staph infection (MRSA), but they will know by tomorrow. Either way, the antibiotics he is on covers all types. That is the not so good news.
We were given 2 options about the next steps:
1) He could take oral antibiotics (although they are not as strong) and see if they continue to fight the infection as needed. That may mean a longer hospital stay.
2) He could have a PICC line put in and have a home health care nurse come to our house for 8 days and administer the antibiotic through the PICC line (IV drip).
We chose the second one, and it seemed like an easy decision. Since Bill doesn't always take his medication in a timely matter, I was really struggling with the first option. Of course, that meant waiting around for the PICC nurse to come and put the line in, and then waiting for two IV bags to drip totaling over an hour and a half. They also had to adjust the line and redo the x-ray so the radiologist could approve the depth of it. Luckily we didn't wait long for discharge papers, but we still didn't get out of there until about 5:00. Joe and Ann ended up taking Tyler back to our house around 2:00. Bill and I got to spend the last three hours together hanging out on his hospital bed watching movies. Although we were both eager to go home, it was really nice to have that time.
The medication is being delivered this evening (around 8:00) and the nurse is coming at 9:00 tonight to show us the ropes and answer our questions. I think the plan is that I will learn how to change the dressing, give the drugs, and flush the line so they can avoid coming here every day. It looked easy when the nurse did it this afternoon, so it shouldn't be a problem. The hardest part will be staying up until 9:00 tonight! I am ready to get some sleep! I feel like I need a weekend from my weekend!
The results of the culture came back as a staph infection. They don't know yet if it is a "bad" staph infection (MRSA), but they will know by tomorrow. Either way, the antibiotics he is on covers all types. That is the not so good news.
We were given 2 options about the next steps:
1) He could take oral antibiotics (although they are not as strong) and see if they continue to fight the infection as needed. That may mean a longer hospital stay.
2) He could have a PICC line put in and have a home health care nurse come to our house for 8 days and administer the antibiotic through the PICC line (IV drip).
We chose the second one, and it seemed like an easy decision. Since Bill doesn't always take his medication in a timely matter, I was really struggling with the first option. Of course, that meant waiting around for the PICC nurse to come and put the line in, and then waiting for two IV bags to drip totaling over an hour and a half. They also had to adjust the line and redo the x-ray so the radiologist could approve the depth of it. Luckily we didn't wait long for discharge papers, but we still didn't get out of there until about 5:00. Joe and Ann ended up taking Tyler back to our house around 2:00. Bill and I got to spend the last three hours together hanging out on his hospital bed watching movies. Although we were both eager to go home, it was really nice to have that time.
The medication is being delivered this evening (around 8:00) and the nurse is coming at 9:00 tonight to show us the ropes and answer our questions. I think the plan is that I will learn how to change the dressing, give the drugs, and flush the line so they can avoid coming here every day. It looked easy when the nurse did it this afternoon, so it shouldn't be a problem. The hardest part will be staying up until 9:00 tonight! I am ready to get some sleep! I feel like I need a weekend from my weekend!
3 comments:
Thank-you for posting updates...I'm not gonna lie...I've become slightly obsessed with checking your blog to see how Bill is doing. Your strength and way with words are amazing.
-Alison
So happy to hear that Bill is back home...wonderful that you two got to spend that quality time together, even if it was sitting in the hospital bed. hopefully they will get this under control now. love and miss you!
Julie and Lenny
Thank goodness you are all home. I hope nurse Jackie is comfortable with with dispensing the antibotics Bill needs. :0) I am so happy he is feeling better. So it was an infection that has been making him feel so bad. Hopefully, he will get his strength back after the antibiotics kick the infection. Love, Tamie
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