Course Change!

Just when we were getting comfortable with Woody's new medical "routine," there is a change in plans.  Just when we thought that all that we had to do medically tomorrow was an antibiotic infusion, there comes a call and that has changed.  Just when we thought that we were through with Vanderbilt for several weeks, a call comes to say we have to go back...as in go back in the morning!

While I was at the church library working, Woody received two phone calls.  I left him with the phone next to him with instructions to be sure to get all info needed...as I was expecting at least a change in scheduling of the antibiotic, if not a change of antibiotic.  The first thing that he said when I came in was that we were going back to Vanderbilt in the morning!  I was hoping that he was kidding, but...no!  The infectious disease clinic called and said that the doctor wanted to change antibiotics as the vancomycin was starting to cause his creatinine level to rise more than they wanted it to.  The new antibiotic is administered differently so I have to go find out how to do it.  Plus they will give his first dose there and then observe him for a little while to make sure that he doesn't have a reaction to it.  One good thing?  We don't have to leave as early as we did on Tuesday.  Our car should know the way.  Woody and I drove to Vanderbilt Tuesday.  Nathan took Graham in our car to Vanderbilt yesterday for a procedure.  And, here Woody and I are heading back tomorrow.  Three trips to and from Vandy in one week...oh, boy!  Guess there is good in the fact that Woody and I "only" have to make two of those trips and that Nathan and Graham "only" had to make one!

Shortly after the infectious disease clinic called, Woody got a call from the company who is handling his infusions.  They called to tell him not to take the vancomycin infusion tomorrow since the doctors  were going to change his med.  At least everyone seems to be on top of things in informing us about changes.

So it's "on the road again," tomorrow.  New antibiotic tomorrow.  Learn new way to administer the antibiotic tomorrow.  I guess this is just part of the adventure that our lives seem to be on here of late...just a little change in the course that we have been on.  But I have pretty much decided that there is no reason to plan anything routine around here...something is sure to step in and take us out of routine.  Such is life!

Day After Vandy Appointments

For me, at least, it has been a typical day-after Vandy.  I had school in the morning with the children and then pretty much the rest of the day didn't accomplish a lot.  I just don't have the energy to do much.  I did manage a good nap this afternoon!  Woody seems to go along as usual no matter what he has done the day before.

Today the home health nurse came to do the weekly blood draw. (Will he have any blood left?!?). Yesterday both the infectious disease and melanoma docs did blood work...so two blood draws and then another today.  Many of the "things" checked were the same.  We still haven't heard what the next plan for his antibiotics will be.  Yesterday we received one more infusion pump ball to get him through till the doc decides what she wants to do next after all the blood draws.  I figure we will hear tomorrow...if not we have the med at least for Friday's infusion.  They have been very good at keeping up with orders so I am sure that they will be again.  They overnight the meds to us.  We had a box on the front porch when we got home yesterday with just Friday's dose in it.  We have plenty of the infusion pump balls left, but they are only good for a week...so today was the last day we are supposed to use the ones we received last week.  The reason we have them left over is that they changed plans mid-week to have him take them every other day.

Woody Got His Exercise In Today!

We awoke to no snow...virtually dry roads.  So it was smooth sailing all the way to Vanderbilt. New left the house at 6:15am and pulled back into our driveway at 3:30pm.  So another long day, but it pretty much went like clockwork.  We arrived even before the office opened.  It sounds like Woody was assigned the doctor who had been at Vanderbilt in the infectious diseases the longest.  She was very nice and explained things very well.  She is changing the strength of his antibiotics depending on lab results today.  When Wes got home we had one dose of his infusion antibiotics to get him through till the doctor gives the latest.  She might even change the antibiotic.  She lessened another antibiotic and told him to take it every other day.  They are watching his kidney function and liver panels deciding on how much, what kind, and when he is to take them.  He will continue to take two antibiotics even after the 42 days.  One, Ciprofoxacin, he will probably take for a longer period of time and then she will put him on another antibiotic that he isn't presently on and he will be on that for the rest of his life.  The fact that the bacteria are in the bone, there isn't a good way to tell if the infection is totally gone...plus even though it might be gone at a point, there is a likelihood that it might return.  She was pleased with the way his leg looked on the outside.  She said that there was no sign of infection and that the incision was healing very well.  We go back to see her in three weeks.

As soon as we finished in the infectious disease clinic, we headed over to the main part of Vanderbilt to the radiology department.  He was in and out very quickly...CTs without contrast are quite fast.  Then we headed to the cancer clinic for his labs.  We were ahead of schedule for both of these appointments.  After his labs, we headed to the waiting room to see Dr. Wyman.  We knew that even though we were early, it wouldn't make any difference as he doesn't see patients till after lunch.  So we had quite a wait to get into his exam room, but once there he came in quickly.  I will say that we don't have the results of the CT scan.  Dr. Wyman is supposed to call us with the results.  I am also watching the "My Health at Vanderbilt" for Woody's results...all results from both doctor visits are posted, but the scan still isn't.  So we will wait and see...but we expect a good report.  Woody told Dr. Wyman that he thought that he would know if there was a problem and Drl Wyman agreed.

Woody got his exercise today by walking all over the halls of Vanderbilt...travelled the really long one twice.  We were in a new, for us, building for the infectious diseases...then had to walk over to the hospital area from across the street...then to the other end of that long building to get to the Cancer Clinic.  So he got his walking in today.  He did very well.  He said that his arm hurt from pushing the walker more than his leg did from all the walking.

He headed off a little while ago to go to the prayer room.  He hasn't felt well enough nor could he get around well enough to go to the prayer room in a while.  So it is another good sign of his improving health and recovery after the surgery.

I came home and made us a big pot of Chicken Noodle Soup.  Tasted really good on this really cold day.  And, I guess, if the predictions are correct, it is supposed to get even colder over the next couple of days.  Brrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Oops!

I just realized that I forgot to blog last night.  I guess I was wrapped up in watching what the weather was going to do.  I woke up a few minutes ago...I guess to look out the window to see what it was doing and thought about the blog.  I still don't know if we will be going to Vanderbilt for Woody's four appointments today.  The weather is still iffy, but at this point the snow hasn't happened...hoping that roads will be clear enough that we can go on and make the trip as it would be good to get these appointments out of the way and not have to reschedule.  If we have to reschedule, I'm sure that we won't get them all on the same day so that would turn into two trips. We'd like to make as few trips as possible to Vanderbilt.  I guess the decision about whether we go will be made when we wake up in a few hours.  Now I'm going back to sleep.  I'll report tonight whether we go or not!

Saturday

I started off my part of the day getting ready to go to the grocery store.  Normally we go on Friday, but since I went off with friends yesterday, I put my part of the shopping off till today.  Woody did make a quick trip in and out of Aldis yesterday.  I went to Walmart and Kroger today.  I left Woody at home to take out his infusion medicine two hours prior to his infusion.  I was home and had the groceries out away before it was time for his antibiotic infusion.  He will skip his infusion tomorrow...another respite day with no nurses, no PT, and no infusions.  All that will start up again on Monday...with PT and an infusion.  Then Tuesday...no infusion...but should be gone most of the day for four appointments at Vanderbilt.  I say should be gone because there is a forecast of snow during the night Monday night into Tuesday morning.  We will have to be up dark and early in order to get to his first appointment which is a little after 8am.  I hope that roads are such that we can go and get all those appointments behind him.  Tuesday is also his six-month check with his Melanoma doctor.  He is scheduled to see the doctor and have a CT scan and labs.  The early appointment is with the infectious disease clinic...his three-week after he was dismissed from the hospital appointment to see them.  He has to go back to see the infectious disease folk in three weeks after this week, also. I think at that point if all is going well, he will be finished with the antibiotic infusions and also the two oral antibiotics. That day he will also see Dr. Holt and have X-rays done of his leg.  Just one appointment after another every time we turn around!

Flew the Coop!

We both flew the coop this morning.  Woody headed off to run errands with his friend who doesn't have any transportation.  I headed off with friends to have lunch and poke around in several stores.  It was good for both of us to get out of the house.  It was especially nice not to have to have any thoughts about health care...no nurses...no PT...no antibiotic infusion.

My friends and I went to a near-by town to a restaurant that we had gone to breakfast the last time we got together.  When we were on our way out after breakfast that day, we happened to see a hamburger being served that looked delicious and we said that we needed to go back and try their hamburger sometime.  Well, today was that day...and, it was worth going back for...just a good old-fashioned hamburger...and the fries were yummy aka hot and crispy, too!  One of our stops took us to an antique "store." I don't know if where you live you have stores like this, but around here there are quite a few of them.  Stores that folk "rent" areas of the store and set up their wares...antiques or craft items and sell them...in what I will call "booths."  We have a friend who sells in this particular place and we wanted to see what she had in her booths.  In the end, I think that I was the only one to purchase something there, and I just happened upon a Christmas ornament of our church.  It was numbered 30/100.  I had never seen this ornament before and have no idea when it came out or where it was originally sold.  But I know that it can't be any older than when we had a fountain put in the green area across from our church building that is part of our church campus, as this ornament shows the fountain.  Anyway, I have a new ornament for our Christmas tree!  I have an ornament of the church where I grew up in AZ and now I will have one of our church that I have gone to since we were married. (Woody can add a year to that since he moved here after graduation from college.). Anyway, we had a good time today eating, shopping, and mainly just a good time being together!

Free As A Bird?

Well, Woody feels like he may feel free as a bird tomorrow.  He has no home health nurse coming.  He has not PT person coming tomorrow.  And, this afternoon, he got word that he doesn't have an antibiotic infusion tomorrow.  He was told that he was to just have the infusions every other day until they tell him otherwise after the next blood draw next week.  So he can spread his wings and fly—well as far as he can go with his walker!  But at least tomorrow can be a day for him to choose what he wants to do and when he wants to do it...nothing scheduled for him!

This every other day will work out well for us.  As it means that he doesn't have an infusion on Sunday (hard for us to get the med out of the fridge 2 hours prior to infusion on Sunday) and also won't have one on Tuesday, which is the day we spend a good part of the day at Vanderbilt.  I had been dreading trying to figure out how we would get an infusion in amongst all the appointments that actually were happening at his usual infusion time.  Not having one on Tuesday is definitely going to help!  It looks like things continue to work out the best for Woody!

It frees me up too so I am going to spread my wings and fly off with friends to have lunch.

Woody has another freedom today.  His PT person brought little ski-like attachments to put on the non-wheel legs of his walker.  Finally he can just glide his walker along when he is walking.  He can walk almost normally with the walker now.  And, I am freed up from hearing the awful sound it was making on the kitchen floor!

This afternoon after Woody's infusion, I headed off to work in the church library.  We changed our work day to Thursday.  We have done it on Wednesday for so many years, that a change of day may take some getting used to!  I probably will think that tomorrow is Thursday!  We got quite a lot done on getting underway with the first steps of processing a new book order.  And, got at least one book ready to check out.  One of our blog readers has been waiting a long time for it to be ready!  (Bill C., it is waiting for you on the check-out counter next to the computer.)