Here we go....

Ok folks....my brain is mush! Seriously!
FRIDAY:
Dwen and his Mom went to see his surgeon this morning but after yesterday, we knew he would probably be admitted. He was. Around noon I headed to Menorah hospital. We met with the infectious disease doctor. We met with a GI doctor and basically the skinny on it all is...D has an abscessed spot inside. Because the previous two drains didn't work, they want to go in and remove the infected area. There was talk of a third drain by the doctors but the nurses didn't know anything about it. After a violent shaking/ cold chill episode...his fever spiked to 103.8. After some morphine and some oxygen...he has calmed a bit. I heard someone say the recovery from this surgery will be 4-6 weeks. Since it is a weekend...who knows when the surgery will happen. The GI doc said tomorrow....but since the nurse had no knowledge of it...I wonder. The communication skills of the nursing staff leaves a bad taste in both our mouths. I guess we will take it moment by moment...and believe me when I say, that these moments in the hospital are long ones!
I went home about midnight. Was afraid if I stayed to late I would have issues driving and falling asleep. Around 8 pm, Dwen's fever was 103.8...after a chat with the nurse, we learned that you have to be fever free for 24 hours until they will do surgery. So, we figure the surgery won't be until Monday. No one is gonna do it on a Sunday and I sure wouldn't wanna see the bill, if they did. The nurse finally gave him something to make him sleep around 11:15. It worked good too, because he was discussing cigars with me. Blue ones! LOL

SATURDAY:

So, the blood they drew yesterday shows a 'staph/staff' infection. This is why he is getting the shakes and the fever. After speaking to the Infectious disease on call doc (different than yesterday...but the one who we have seen several times at the office) and after speaking to the on call surgeon....they believe the staph infection is from the pick/central line. It happens often in cases like Dwen's where you have had the line in for several weeks.They removed the pick/central line, in hopes that the 2 varieties of antibiotics he has been on for over 24 hours will do the trick. They are holding off on any GI test...and surgery is also on hold....in hopes that he will feel better, with the source of the staph infection being removed. Everyone is saying the abscess is very small...so small that a drain wouldn't work, so both docs we talked to think that once the fever and the chills go away...the drugs would go to work on the abscess. Dwen has voiced that he'd stay a week in the hospital if it meant no surgery! I agree. I came home around 4:30pm, Dwen's folks and Dyna & Drew (siblings) were with D. At that time he still had a high fever...flexing between 101-103, I returned around 6:30pm and we learned that the meds aren't working so Dwen is scheduled to have surgery in the morning...{so I guess they will operate on Sunday} We met with the anesthesiologist {yes, I had to look that one up to spell it} he said that they operate on people with a fever quite often. That the surgeon on call is a great guy and we shouldn't worry. We met him...he was nice. Dwen asked the surgeon on call, if it was possible to get the nurses to stop coming in his room every hour and the surgeon gave a 'do not disturb from 11pm-4am'...so at least he is listening to D. I will stay the night here at the hospital. Dwen really wants me to stay. I will jet home to shower and stuff before the surgery. I would be lying if I didn't say that all this worries me.

SUNDAY:
So, a lot has happened and I will try to get it all in.....I eventually went home last last night. Once home I crashed, hard. I totally forgot about switching the damn clocks. So I woke at 7:30 and figured I had plenty of time to get the kids and myself to the hospital for Dwen's surgery at 10. They wheel him back at 9:30, took a shower and it hit me...I didn't switch them....it was 8:30 and Adam was sleeping. Sara had went to work to open the salad bar but planned on leaving. I panicked. We got here in time...the docs were running late too...thanks goodness. D went in around 10:30, was moved to recovery and then he was in his room by 12. The surgeon said it went well, that he started with a small incision but had to go a little bigger to see it all. That he had some dead tissue in there....along with the abscess. That his color was back, that his fever was dropping and that D was doing real good. Once in the room, they they hooked him to a few more machines and D had his family and some cousins visiting. His infectious doctor came by and said that they were gonna draw more blood and test it again...from each arm. That the abscess could have been healed with the antibiotics but the dead tissue wouldn't have come through the tube, so surgery was for the best.
I gotta say that Dwen is snoring his head off.....which is a sound I haven't heard in several weeks. Normally I hate it, but it is a beautiful sound today. His blood pressure is low and they are watching it, but they said it was because of the morphine.
MONDAY:
This morning when I arrived at the hospital...there was so much commotion going on around Dwen that it took about 2 hours for my small pea size brain to get it all in. D's white blood count is very low, his kidney creatinine (sp?) numbers were up. They called in an internal meds doc; a kidney specialist and oncologist/hemoglobinist (sp?). I didn't even understand what the hell an oncologist does until Sharon (MIL) told me. The gave him several different nausea meds & change his antibiotics...his fever was pretty stable this morning but this evening when I left they were up to 101. I can't even tell you why this is happening because each person at the hospital tells us a different story each time but they moved him into ICU around 4-5ish. They have to get his low blood pressure up and stable...everything else depends on it. He had a chest xray and he has some infiltrates in there which basically boils down to he has some gunk sitting there and we need to get his lungs going to keep him from getting pneumonia.

Without all the fancy words this is what my mind is left with.....His immune system is compromised, the white blood count stuff is his automatic infection fighters aren't working, they tried to boost them with drugs, since his lungs aren't taking in the oxygen that his body needs his kidneys are suffering. His low blood pressure has to come up before they can get him out of bed even. Normal is 120....Dwen's had reading as low as 74. That's the best I can do to explain it...I should have paid closer attention in Biology/health class! Since he is in ICU, we are limited on visiters and time spent with him. We also have to leave at 10 pm and I am glad this rule is in place because I felt so guilty leaving him at night. There is a 2 to1 nurse /patient ratio so that is very comforting! Phewf...I need a drink! A hard one!