update on dad

sorry for not being a better updater...i have been super busy this week at school....so here we go....

dad is still in the hospital, as of today his drs said that on friday he might get to move back over the rehab facility. they want him to get up and walk before they move him and he hasnt been able to accomplish that yet.

you might want to know what has happened in the past week, huh? on friday they went back and took out the whole hip replacement along with some more of his pelvis...they are not going to replace it either. odd? yes...his right femur was placed back up into the hip area with hip to connect to...girdlestone resection arthroplasty...is the procedure they performed. this is used with a hip replacement is rejected by the body. his right leg will be bout 3 inches shorter and only held in place by his muscles, which overtime will grow harder to secure his femur.

this was a lot to handle and accept...i know for me...i cant imagine what he went through. they have a wound vac system in place on his incision. i havent been back down there so i only giving you info that i was given. from what i understand, there is a sponge in the area and every other day they must take it out and replace it with a new one. in between, from what i understand, they are hooking the vac part up and sucking out all the yuck.
a wound care specialist came in talked to dad yesterday about the infection that caused this to happen. it was a big long word and sorry i cant remember it, but basically it was a fluke. bad timing, bad matchup...no explanation as to why it got infected.

i know monday was a very rough day for him, but the past 2 days have brought better times for him. he wears his feelings on his sleeve here lately...i can tell how his day is going just by talking to him. he doesnt want to lead on that anythingis wrong, but he isnt very good at hiding it. needless to say...i would much rather him in a good spirits.

he is getting his heels rewrapped right now...the bed sores are healing well. hopefully he will begin gaining back strength and will be able to thrive at rehab.

we are headed down friday after school and thank god next week is spring break...i am ready to go see him!

my sweet little braky bear

it seems like the past month has been living in hell...so many things have gone wrong with my dad and it changes everything for everyone. thankfully through this all i have had bryan and braxtyn...ahhh...love them! bryan has been very supportive of me and my mood swings...braxtyn has been somewhat less supportive...but that little nugget has her own way of being supportive.
bryan has been gone every other week the past 6 weeks which has added more stress for me. even though i would much prefer him here...things have been going okay for braxtyn and me. she has her moments when i want to leave her on the curb while driving home. you know...when she is screaming at me to tie her shoe while i am driving, or the sun is in her eyes, or the music she wants to listen to isnt available, or when she wants her pacificer....despite all the bad moments she is such an angel :)
i always sing hush little baby, twinkle twinkle little star and abc's to her each night. last night when i was at my worst after a day from hell...she ran to get in bed and here is our conversation...
me: wait i want to hold you
brax: you want to hold me?
i gave her a big hug...you know the kind...where you hold on and never want it to end...she pats my back and sits up to give me a kiss and we say i love you
she was over the mushiness rather quickly and told me she wanted to lay in bed
so our routine continues...i sing hush little baby, twinkle twinkle little star and abc's just like i do every night
i lean in to give her a kiss and i whisper..i love you braky bear
brax, also whispering: i love you mommy
me: night, night baby...see you in the morning
brax: night night mommy
she makes everything worthwhile:)

out of surgery

dad went back for surgery at 4:30 today...took 2 hours...dr williams came out to talk to my mom around 6:30. he said everything went fine and he is doing fine in recovery. he should back in his room around 9...i cant wait to talk to him

and the story continues and yet...still no good news

so apparently my last post was filled with a little too much hope :( after getting a more elaborate explanation of tomorrows procedure plan 1 isnt even a plan! they are going in tomorrow, sometime, to remove every piece of hip replacement they put in on Feb 11. damn it, damn it, damn it!!!!!
now, i am not in the medical profession so i dont completely understand what they are exactly doing...so i hope you can follow me...they are removing all the hardware they used to do the hip replacement, there is apparently still some cancerous cells that were missed so they are cutting off more of his pelvis. they are going to clean everything up to hopefullly get all the bacteria out. his femur bone will be placed up in the hip area and his muscles will be tightly stitched together in order to hold it in place. he will have to use a cane to walk...he will have movement over his ankle...his right leg will be 3 inches shorter than his left and he will have to lifts put on every shoe.
even typing this out doesnt make anything make more sense...i am still so confused and so mad that we are here! what makes me the maddest is that all of his setbacks have been at the hands of the hospital staff. surgery #2 on Feb 19- correct dislocated hip due to pt pulling it out and now surgery #3 due to an infection at the hads of the nursing staff...and you ask why is it their fault? how could you put blame on someone for an infection? easy...he does not have a staff infection which is good news...he has an infection that comes from fecal matter. now why in the world is this even possible? i know i am probably sharing way too much but...due to the surgeries and all the meds they have been filling him up on laxatives...guess what people...the shit will eventually come out!!!!! after asking for assistance because he knew what he needed to do...the assistance offered wasnt much. needless to say, it was a mess and this happened more than once!
i know from personal experience that all medical staff will tell you, aww...the incision looks great! youre doing good! well guys...looking at something from the outside doesnt mean shit! the infection is always within. they sent dad over to the rehab facility with him under then notion that everything looked great, when underneath it was all unraveling. we had hopes of packing the incision in order to heal it. then we thought they might reinsert a drain. it didnt even cross our minds, well...atleast mine, that they would end up taking it all out.
i knew the option of the removal of his leg was always a possibility i just hoped that wouldnt have to happen. at this point...anything is possible and i hate that!!!!
i cant imagine what is going thru his mind...i cant imagine what is going thru my own mind. i know he will wake up tomorrow...he will be here...i just cant help but be scared for him. i know that he is physically going thru all of this and i cant imagine the emotionally hell he is in right now. i just want my dad...plain and simple...i just want my dad

what is exactly is the path?

i know that god has a plan for all of us, but come on now...what else can this man go through????

the cultures came back on dad's incision drainage...positive for infection

so today...day 21 since his orginal surgery, he was admitted back into the hospital and will undergo surgery yet again! count them people...3 surgeries in 3 weeks!!!!

first plan...clean out all infection and hope for the best

second plan...if infection is unable to be completely cleared, then they must redo the whole hip replacement, so again more surgeries and more risk for things to continue to go wrong

third plan...if nothing else works, the only other alternative is to remove his leg :(

i just wish things would go right...i know that he can get through the physical part of all this crap..i just dont know how he will mentally get through it all...

another weekend gone by

goodness...time is going by so fast here lately! bryan has been out of town every other week the past 4 weeks and he heads out tomorrow again. :( inbetween all his travel we have managed to go down to see my dad last weekend and this weekend i went down all by myself. i havent traveled by myself in many years...it was strange. not only that, i have spent very few nights away from brax.
i went down thrusday after school to spend some time with dad. i got to the rehab facility around noon on friday. i walked in right behind him coming back from physical therapy. he was braced up and in his wheelchair. as he started taking the front part of the brace off, he noticed that his incision was leaking. leaking would give you thought of a little bit...it was more of a gush. thankfully his nurse got him over into wound care fairly quickly and was seen by a dr. as for right now, we are just changing the dressings every 2-3 hours in hopes that the drainage will stop. he goes over to see the surgical team on monday for a followup.
the rehab facility has an onsite wound care center and he will go back over there on tuesday and then again on thursday. they are seeing him for the drainage at the incision sight as well as the bed sores on his heels. everything seems to progressing along the recovery path...at times it takes a detour, but slowly he is getting there.
since bryan flies out in the morning, my week will be hectic yet again. i cant wait for everything to get back to normal! good news is that spring break is only 2 weeks away! a much needed break. we will head back to san antonio on the 13th in order to spend dads birthday with him. we are hoping that he will be able to go home by then. :)
so...there is an update...i am exhausted! i left san antonio saturday night at 10 and drove back to lubbock. i got in this morning at 4. i only had 2 stops. the first one outside of san angelo because a dps thought i needed to slow down. he was super nice and just gave me a warning...i was so glad he was so nice and only clocked me at 72 instead the 85 i was going! my next stop was in big spring to fill up my poor baby hummer. my poor baby was subjected to abuse over the weekend. it is coming up on 4 years old with only 24000 miles and it sleeps in the garage every night! i am sure it is in shock and is enjoying being back home. a 1000 miles in a weekend is way too much for it!

Monday...day 12

We had to leave yesterday and make our way back to Lubbock. I really wanted to stay with dad, but I think he is doing okay and I will be back down there this weekend.

Before we left yesterday one of his drs came in and let him sit up in his bed. He was so excited to get to move! I talked with him today and they were planning to get him up walking today...another very exciting step he was more than ready to make. I don't think that he officially got to walk but he was moved into a wheelchair and was able to get out of the room for awhile.

Last night, while getting up to go potty he pulled out one of his drains. This morning when the dr came in they took out the 2nd one and had hopes of removing the 3rd one today. Another step in getting him mobile. With the great steps he has taken over the past few days the drs are hopeful he will be moving to the rehab facility soon.

I was glad that we were there to spend time with him. I saw him actually smile and there was even a laugh! He had gotten Braxtyn a singing monkey for Valentine's Day and when she opened and pushed the button..her face was full of surprise! I am so glad that he was able to smile...it has been a long time since I seen that.

I was very happy before we left yesterday that we were able to get him an air bed to help with his bed sores that were beginning to form. I spoke with him today and he seemed to be in good spirits. I can't wait to get back down there!