It's been a while since the last post because I have gone to Germany, and so have had to wait to settle a little before updating the blog.
Not a lot changed though. Dad has started to walk more around again, and has been moved into a room with another roommate. Last I heard they were at loggerheads over the curtains - Dad wanted them open, while the other person wanted them closed. So Dad just goes out to the lounge area to get the bright sunny rays.
On Saturday (I think) Dad had an MRI scan so we are still waiting for the results - I guess the docs need to get together to discuss...which could take a little while.
Apart from that, I believe Dad is going home tomorrow (Tues). So hope things work out at home.
30 April 2007
23 April 2007
Day 45 - bed sores + new bed
Today was pretty uneventful, except for the discovery of developing bed sores on Dad's back due to him lying on his back so long. Let's hope it doesn't develop further as it seems this could become another source of infection! He has received a new bed with a special air matress which helps with the circulation so that should help relieve the sores developing any further. This bed also works....the last one broke and didn't want to go up or down anymore.
On a different note, my car decided it didn't like the engine timing belt and that karked it! Not great timing when I have so many things to do before heading overseas on Thursday. :-(
On a different note, my car decided it didn't like the engine timing belt and that karked it! Not great timing when I have so many things to do before heading overseas on Thursday. :-(
22 April 2007
Day 44 - recovering
In a way, it was a bit of a good thing that Dad had to go back to hospital on Friday because it fast tracked the next operation.
Yesterday (Saturday) he was in the operating theatre again. The source of the infection was treated - a cyst had formed at the site where an artery was taken from to use in the repair of his arm on the day of the accident. The cyst had become infected and over 500mL of fluid was drained/cleaned out! At the same time, the scaffolding (officially called "external fixators") was also removed, which has made the arm look better.
He has some tubes attached to him again, but they are due to be removed in about two or three days. So, it's not quite so bad this time.
Dad is recovering quite well from this surgery actually, having a slightly different view from his hospital bed this time. His skin grafts are growing more all the time, and it is looking much more like normal skin again.
Yesterday (Saturday) he was in the operating theatre again. The source of the infection was treated - a cyst had formed at the site where an artery was taken from to use in the repair of his arm on the day of the accident. The cyst had become infected and over 500mL of fluid was drained/cleaned out! At the same time, the scaffolding (officially called "external fixators") was also removed, which has made the arm look better.
He has some tubes attached to him again, but they are due to be removed in about two or three days. So, it's not quite so bad this time.
Dad is recovering quite well from this surgery actually, having a slightly different view from his hospital bed this time. His skin grafts are growing more all the time, and it is looking much more like normal skin again.
20 April 2007
Day 42 - ...and back again...
At 4pm today, Dad was taken by ambulance back to The Alfred. His body temperature rose to 39.7 degrees C and he became weak and had no appetite. It appears an infection has once again reared its ugly head.
Since Wednesday Dad has enjoyed being at home with the good food, and Chloe (the dog) and of course Mum and Oma to help look after him. However I think it was pretty tough having to carry his arm around (with the metal fixtures still in place) and not having his full strength back yet. I think getting around the house was a little more difficult than Mum and Dad had expected.
For now Dad will stay in the hospital, and tomorrow he is scheduled to have the metal scaffolding removed from his arm. He will also have a clean up of an inflamed lump where they took a donor artery in the first surgery (for his arm) on Day 1.
Since Wednesday Dad has enjoyed being at home with the good food, and Chloe (the dog) and of course Mum and Oma to help look after him. However I think it was pretty tough having to carry his arm around (with the metal fixtures still in place) and not having his full strength back yet. I think getting around the house was a little more difficult than Mum and Dad had expected.
For now Dad will stay in the hospital, and tomorrow he is scheduled to have the metal scaffolding removed from his arm. He will also have a clean up of an inflamed lump where they took a donor artery in the first surgery (for his arm) on Day 1.
18 April 2007
Day 40 - Home sweet home :-)
40 Days and not quite so many nights and Dad is finally going home. At 4pm today he was transferred from The Alfred to home.
He is by no means recovered, but there is no need for him to remain in hospital for the time being.
I'm sure this will be a much better environment for him to recover in. There will be special equipment given to him to help deal with everyday things like going to the toilet, washing and moving about the house.
Further surgery is still required but that will only mean a short stay in hospital (hopefully anyway) on those occasions.
I'll put more news up at a later stage about his experience coming back home. I'm sure the ambulance ride home will be interesting :-)
He is by no means recovered, but there is no need for him to remain in hospital for the time being.
I'm sure this will be a much better environment for him to recover in. There will be special equipment given to him to help deal with everyday things like going to the toilet, washing and moving about the house.
Further surgery is still required but that will only mean a short stay in hospital (hopefully anyway) on those occasions.
I'll put more news up at a later stage about his experience coming back home. I'm sure the ambulance ride home will be interesting :-)
15 April 2007
Day 37 - The rash you have, when you don't have a rash
You may be thinking I'm getting slack not updating this blog everyday, but there really hasn't been anything to tell.
Since the vacuum dressings and vancomycin has been removed (last blog entry) Dad's skin grafts are healing and the wounds are therefore closing. The place on his leg where the skin grafts were taken from are also healing. Dad says it feels like having a gravel rash, like when you fall off a bicycle.
We have been waiting now for a few days to hear what the orthopaedic surgeons want to do with the scoffolding in his arm. Hopefully tomorrow we'll hear something.
Since the vacuum dressings and vancomycin has been removed (last blog entry) Dad's skin grafts are healing and the wounds are therefore closing. The place on his leg where the skin grafts were taken from are also healing. Dad says it feels like having a gravel rash, like when you fall off a bicycle.
We have been waiting now for a few days to hear what the orthopaedic surgeons want to do with the scoffolding in his arm. Hopefully tomorrow we'll hear something.
11 April 2007
Day 33 - Off with her head!
"Off with her head!" said The Queen of Hearts (of Alice in Wonderland fame), and so too did the doctors about the vacuum dressings and drip for Dad. Well, not quite in those words but essentially the same meaning.
Dad's vacuum dressings are off.
Dad's vancomycin drip is off.
The rash will go away.
The skin grafts are looking healthy and good, so now he has a normal gauze and bandage on his arm. They should heal nicely and close the wounds over the coming weeks.
Dad was so excited to have the machines off him. Standing up he felt a bit faint, so had a bit of a rest, then moved on again to walk to the toilet, and begin the onward journey in life.
Now that Dad is a little less 'anchored' down (with no machines to cart around) he will be able to concentrate on walking and moving around more.
The next step is to talk with the orthodaedic surgeons about the scaffolding on his arm, and what they want to do with it - leave it or replace it with something more comfortable. He may even go home very soon :-)
Dad's vacuum dressings are off.
Dad's vancomycin drip is off.
The rash will go away.
The skin grafts are looking healthy and good, so now he has a normal gauze and bandage on his arm. They should heal nicely and close the wounds over the coming weeks.
Dad was so excited to have the machines off him. Standing up he felt a bit faint, so had a bit of a rest, then moved on again to walk to the toilet, and begin the onward journey in life.
Now that Dad is a little less 'anchored' down (with no machines to cart around) he will be able to concentrate on walking and moving around more.
The next step is to talk with the orthodaedic surgeons about the scaffolding on his arm, and what they want to do with it - leave it or replace it with something more comfortable. He may even go home very soon :-)
10 April 2007
Day 31 - A rash! ARGH!
Just a quick entry today.
Well, it's officially one month since Dad's accident and he's still in hospital. We were hoping he'd be home by now. But I think it's better that he's healing slowly than not at all.
Over the last few days Dad has been getting bored and lonely, only to be occupied by an annoying rash the nurses call "Red Man Syndrome". This is coming from the antibiotics he's getting to combat infection. Basically, he's getting a red rash all over his body which is irritating and making him very uncomfortable. Not to mention there's a bit of a heat rash happening on his back from lying in the bed all the time.
Tomorrow they will look at his skin grafts, so we may have a better idea of what the future holds.
Well, it's officially one month since Dad's accident and he's still in hospital. We were hoping he'd be home by now. But I think it's better that he's healing slowly than not at all.
Over the last few days Dad has been getting bored and lonely, only to be occupied by an annoying rash the nurses call "Red Man Syndrome". This is coming from the antibiotics he's getting to combat infection. Basically, he's getting a red rash all over his body which is irritating and making him very uncomfortable. Not to mention there's a bit of a heat rash happening on his back from lying in the bed all the time.
Tomorrow they will look at his skin grafts, so we may have a better idea of what the future holds.
08 April 2007
Day 30 - No more chocolate!
Well, it's been a stressful couple of days - that's why I requested no visitors for a few days, but please feel free to visit again :-)
Let me give you a run down of the events over the past few days.
Last Wednesday night, Dad was told that on Thursday he would be going in for another operation. This time it would be a very significant one - amputation. This news came about 10 minutes after we (Mum, sister and I) had left his bedside, so we turned around and went back to comfort him. As you can imagine this news was pretty sad and traumatic for us all. Mum stayed overnight to keep Dad company - he was very anxious.
Thursday came around and the docs came to chat about the procedure and what would happen. We discussed an amputation just below the elbow, but would all depend on what the surgeon decided after looking inside Dad's arm. The surgeon looking after Dad is one of the top surgeons in Australia, if not the world!! So that's pleasing. That was about 10am, and they said about an hour until Dad would be called to the operating theatre. After 4 hours had passed, I thought we could ask what was happening (had they forgotten about Dad?). As it transpired, another patient on the ward had a life threatening situation arise and had to be rushed to surgery delaying Dad's procedure. After several more hours, and an absolutely starved Two Wheel Rosella, the operation was postponed until the following day. This turned out to be a bit of a relief because it meant Dad could eat again for a while.
On Good Friday morning, Dad was taken to theatre (about 7.30am) however due to another emergency case coming into the hospital (I think it could have been a car accident that morning) Dad was delayed again and taken back to his room. There he waited anxiously until about lunchtime when he was taken to theatre again, and this time his operation was undertaken.
Sister and I went to Federation Square for a beer to kill time until Dad was in the recovery room. We returned when the time came and saw Dad in the recovery room, expecting to see slightly less of a man. To our surprise Dad's arm was still complete, with a splint and different bandage around it. Later the registrar surgeon came to explain that during the operation the surgeon had found the flesh to be quite pink, and not as bad as first expected (although still "shitty") so skin grafts were done instead to try to close the wounds. By mid week we should find out if they have taken hold and what the next steps will be.
This is a most positive sign and perhaps there is hope yet that some good will still be to come.
Now the biggest problem (in my opinion) is the lack of 'positiveness' Dad is exuding. He has a nasty rash all over from the medication he's on which can be irritating at times. So he is complaining a little about this (combined with a heat rash on the back from the crappy sheets left under him after surgery) as well as complaining about being in the hospital and being bored and everything takes so long, and not getting help when he needs it. This is putting a lot of pressure on the family to be there, but of course this isn't physically possible with normal lives to lead as well (ie work, households to maintain and some time out).
I'm just hoping we can all pursuade Dad to be positive and think about how he can help himself. I've tried bringing him things to keep busy - puzzles, games (which are in the drawers next to his bed if anyone wants to play), books, magazines, music. But he doesn't want any of these - which I am finding extremely disappointing. Nevertheless we will press on helping and encouraging him to be positive. I hope you can too.
This has been a very long entry, so let me just finish by saying that Dad isn't a big chocolate eater, so don't bring anymore - I'm gaining pounds eating if all for him!! ;-)
Let me give you a run down of the events over the past few days.
Last Wednesday night, Dad was told that on Thursday he would be going in for another operation. This time it would be a very significant one - amputation. This news came about 10 minutes after we (Mum, sister and I) had left his bedside, so we turned around and went back to comfort him. As you can imagine this news was pretty sad and traumatic for us all. Mum stayed overnight to keep Dad company - he was very anxious.
Thursday came around and the docs came to chat about the procedure and what would happen. We discussed an amputation just below the elbow, but would all depend on what the surgeon decided after looking inside Dad's arm. The surgeon looking after Dad is one of the top surgeons in Australia, if not the world!! So that's pleasing. That was about 10am, and they said about an hour until Dad would be called to the operating theatre. After 4 hours had passed, I thought we could ask what was happening (had they forgotten about Dad?). As it transpired, another patient on the ward had a life threatening situation arise and had to be rushed to surgery delaying Dad's procedure. After several more hours, and an absolutely starved Two Wheel Rosella, the operation was postponed until the following day. This turned out to be a bit of a relief because it meant Dad could eat again for a while.
On Good Friday morning, Dad was taken to theatre (about 7.30am) however due to another emergency case coming into the hospital (I think it could have been a car accident that morning) Dad was delayed again and taken back to his room. There he waited anxiously until about lunchtime when he was taken to theatre again, and this time his operation was undertaken.
Sister and I went to Federation Square for a beer to kill time until Dad was in the recovery room. We returned when the time came and saw Dad in the recovery room, expecting to see slightly less of a man. To our surprise Dad's arm was still complete, with a splint and different bandage around it. Later the registrar surgeon came to explain that during the operation the surgeon had found the flesh to be quite pink, and not as bad as first expected (although still "shitty") so skin grafts were done instead to try to close the wounds. By mid week we should find out if they have taken hold and what the next steps will be.
This is a most positive sign and perhaps there is hope yet that some good will still be to come.
Now the biggest problem (in my opinion) is the lack of 'positiveness' Dad is exuding. He has a nasty rash all over from the medication he's on which can be irritating at times. So he is complaining a little about this (combined with a heat rash on the back from the crappy sheets left under him after surgery) as well as complaining about being in the hospital and being bored and everything takes so long, and not getting help when he needs it. This is putting a lot of pressure on the family to be there, but of course this isn't physically possible with normal lives to lead as well (ie work, households to maintain and some time out).
I'm just hoping we can all pursuade Dad to be positive and think about how he can help himself. I've tried bringing him things to keep busy - puzzles, games (which are in the drawers next to his bed if anyone wants to play), books, magazines, music. But he doesn't want any of these - which I am finding extremely disappointing. Nevertheless we will press on helping and encouraging him to be positive. I hope you can too.
This has been a very long entry, so let me just finish by saying that Dad isn't a big chocolate eater, so don't bring anymore - I'm gaining pounds eating if all for him!! ;-)
03 April 2007
Day 25 - To scan or not to scan...
Today was very disappointing in terms of hospital service.
Dad was supposed to have a scan done on his arm to see what could be seen about the nerves and blood vessels and the like. This was supposed to happen about 11.30am and requiring Dad to fast, ie not eat, for 4 hours.
As the time came closer the hospital realised that Dad can't turn on his stomach so they cancelled the scan! I'm sure he could lie on his tummy with some help!! Very narrow minded thinking if you ask me.
Other than that, Dad has walked further today - going through the corridors with my sister, right around the ward. Being stuffed after that effort, he was ready for a good sleep.
Dad was supposed to have a scan done on his arm to see what could be seen about the nerves and blood vessels and the like. This was supposed to happen about 11.30am and requiring Dad to fast, ie not eat, for 4 hours.
As the time came closer the hospital realised that Dad can't turn on his stomach so they cancelled the scan! I'm sure he could lie on his tummy with some help!! Very narrow minded thinking if you ask me.
Other than that, Dad has walked further today - going through the corridors with my sister, right around the ward. Being stuffed after that effort, he was ready for a good sleep.
02 April 2007
Day 24 - Weekend news
It's been a couple of days since the last update because I was in Sydney catching up with some great friends of mine. It was nice to get away for a bit and rejuvenate a little. Don't worry - although we did walk along some of the coast (Bradley's Head and South Head) we weren't affected by the tsunami (it was only 15cm by the time it reached Sydney).
Over the last few days, Dad has been regaining strength and can walk up and down the corridor. It's still quite exhausting but at least he's up and about. The nurses and doctors are saying he is one of the better patients actually, and with such a positive attitude that he'll be out in no time.
On Sunday morning another small operation to change the vacuum dressing occurred, and I must say the arm is looking cleaner and more healed each time I see it.
My sister came to town on Sunday for the week which is great. Dad has been looking forward to seeing her for two weeks!
Over the last few days, Dad has been regaining strength and can walk up and down the corridor. It's still quite exhausting but at least he's up and about. The nurses and doctors are saying he is one of the better patients actually, and with such a positive attitude that he'll be out in no time.
On Sunday morning another small operation to change the vacuum dressing occurred, and I must say the arm is looking cleaner and more healed each time I see it.
My sister came to town on Sunday for the week which is great. Dad has been looking forward to seeing her for two weeks!
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