Cat bite fever...

[racerrad8]

Well, I have been away from the shop for the majority of the last two weeks.

It all started Monday 9/23...
                 My dad who is in his early 70's, in great health was bitten by my parents house cat.

Tuesday 9/24;
                 My dad then took my mom to the airport on Tuesday so she could travel to Virginia for a week to see my sister & nieces for a week. He arrives home about 5 pm from the trip to the airport and begins to feel weak and ill and calls me. I am about 20 miles from my parents home, so I call 911 and send ambulance to make sure everything is okay. I get to the house after they have arrived and he is calmer, and the vitals are good, but he is still shaky and feeling ill. The only thing that I pulled out of all of the information that could be an outside issue was, "I was bitten by my cat on my thumb". I go ahead and stay there that night to make sure his is okay and not downplaying another issue, but I really do not sleep because I am listening to him toss & turn, moan & groan all night, my mom says this is somewhat of a normal sleep pattern when is stressed or sick. He makes a doctors appointment for Thursday morning to follow up with his doctor.

Wednesday 9/25;
                The day starts of fine, he assures me he is fine and I head off to my physical therapy and get to the shop. I call and check on him several times and he tells me everything is fine. My son, who lives in the rental house on my parents property calls me around 8pm as I had gotten home from the shop and make a plate for dinner. He asks if I am coming out to "stay with Grandpa?" and I tell him no and ask him why. My son downplays any issue and said he was just checking. My calls my sons fiance who is working as a nurse while continuing her schooling. She tells my wife that there is some major infection going on and there is a red streak running from the thumb up to his upper arm. So, off I go to my dads house. I get there and he is not happy with me as he is "fine" and taking the Advil like the paramedics told him to do. I look at his thumb, it is moderately swollen, the bit site is now black and there is a heavy red area running up his arm almost to the arm pit. Off to the hospital ER we go, we get there just after 9pm.

Thursday 9/26;
               Is a continuation of the Wednesday, we spend a total of 6+ hours in the ER. The give him an IV antibiotic and send him home with a prescription antibiotic and pain pills. We get back to the house at about 4am and he has his doctor appoint scheduled for 8:45, just over four hours away. I set my alarm and I crash as he is still mulling around as he has been sleeping for he past 6 hours at the hospital. Next thing I know he is waking me up, it is just after 5 and he is telling me the pain is high but he refuses to take pain pills with consulting his personal doctor. I finally convince him to take a pill and within less than 20 minutes he is sleeping. I go back to sleep and the alarm wakes me at 7. I let him sleep until 7:30 and wake him so we can go to the doctor. He says, I am going to reschedule, I make him get up and go. He will not let me take him and goes by himself to see the doctor. I go back home and lay down for a couple hour nap. I talk to him later in the morning and they tell him to continue the antibiotic regiment the gave him and if anything happens to make it worse, go to doctor office or ER if after hours...

Friday 9/27;
             I go out and check on him and the bite site is now blacker than before and there is more swelling. He tells me that he has been soaking the hand/thump is Epsom slats and warm water, but he fells fine and he has not had anymore fever. He wants me to go home and he will be fine, I stay there again since my mom is out of town and I am concerned.

Saturday 9/28;
             We awake I make him breakfast and the thumb has more black but the swelling is way down and he says he feels good. I come home shower and head to the shop to get some work done as I have thing piling up as I have not been there (but thank god for smart phones and email/internet access). He comes by the shop after lunch and the swelling is back up but he tells me he has been going all day, I am concerned but he is insistent it is not hurting like before and I stay at home.

Sunday 9/29;
             I wake about 6, I watch a little TV, read the paper I did not get to read through the week and the phone rings just before 8 am. My dad say, "come and get me, we need to go to the hospital". I am there by 8:15 and we are at the hospital before 9 am. The do not even triage him, he goes right to a bed, the doctor comes in orders another IV antibiotic and here we go. The doctor comes back in a time later and asks more question, orders blood work and says, "I am going to have to "I&D" (incision & drain) that tum and then we will take a culture and see what is going on. The day drags by in the ER... Now, it is approaching lunch time and I inquire if he can get something to eat as he has told me he did not eat the night before and I can hear his stomach growling.

I take this picture just before the doctor arrives.


The nurse orders him a tray  of food and the doctor arrives to I&D the thumb. He pulls out the big needle to numb the thumb and I exit stage left. I standing the center of the room at the nurse station and all I can hear is my dad giving the doctor the what for as the pain must have been major. I can hear my dad telling him to stop squeezing and the Doctor is telling him to relax, I have to do this I understand it hurts; sorry.

The doctor comes out of the room and tells me he is done and has also ordered some morphine for the pain. I go in and the thumb is sliced length ways and is draining clear fluid. My dad ask me how it looks and say, It felt like a put my hand under the faucet when he cut it. It looked worse now, but the pressure was released the size was smaller. I go ahead and cover it up and the nurse arrive with the pain medications and within a few minutes he is felling much better. Lunch arrives a short time later and he eats and then goes to sleep. it is now about 1:30pm and time is dragging by. As he is sleeping I head out to grab a bite to eat and I am gone for about 30 minutes. I come back he is still sleeping and the doctor comes in around 3 and says, we are going to admit you to the hospital.

The nurse come back around 4 and say, we need to me you to a different section because the section you were in is now off work. They move us to another section of the ER. We wait there and the I am thinking, if he is going to be admitted he probably better get dinner, so dinner is order as well which is not usually offered in the ER. At least this ER station has a TV and there is something more to pass the time away. Dinner arrives around 5:30pm and he eats, more pain meds and he is rest comfortably and the thumb is still open. About 6pm the ER nurse comes in and wraps the thumb and says, you bed is confirm and they will be down to get you shortly. Around 6:30/7 they come and get him and transport him up to the "surgical level" and I immediately ask, why are we in the surgical level and the nurse doe not offer any explanation. I finally leave the hospital after he gets all settled in which is 10:18pm when I sit down in my car.

Monday 9/30;
          Due to my knee surgery I am supposed to be going to PT every Mon-Wed-Fri, so I was up about 5:30 and at PT when they open at 7am just as normal. I am truly dragging and for some reason about 7:30 I feel the need to check my phone in the locker. I check the phone and my dad called about 3 minutes prior. I call him back and he says, the doctor just left and they are going to do surgery. I am off to the hospital, I will get back to my care later.

I get to the hospital and talk it over with my dad and his personal doctor and arthroscopic surgeon were in and they were going to do "I&D surgery and get it all cleaned out. What time is that going to happen I ask, I am on stand by and when they get a team & room available they will do it. Well, that stand by took until after 6pm...

I left him in the pre-op room where they were prepping him at 7pm, the doctor had come in introduced himself explain the surgery and told me, "I will be done in 10-15 minutes". Sure enough, before the big hand got to 7pm the doctor came into the waiting room. Everything went great and he explains the was a pocket of infection that he found near the bottom side of the thumb nail that was probably the root of the problem and he got it all out. He tells me all of the black skin, which was dead is now gone which mean basically the complete bottom of the thumb at this point. My dad is back to the room by 9pm and my wife and I stay until about 11.

Tuesday 10/1;
          My wife goes in early as my dad has asked her to bring him coffee. I head to the shop but my wife is calling me telling me I need to be there when the change out the bandages around 12, so I do some work around the shop and head other there getting there are bout 11:40. He is sitting on the couch in the room, she was giving his some pain meds in preparation of the bandaging change and she says, "I'll be back at 12 to change that bandage". She does not get back until almost 20 after 12 and now my dad have worked himself into worry and he thinks the pain meds are all worn off by now and is refusing to let her do it. I finally get him into bed, the go ahead and give him some more pain meds in the IV and the change does not go to bad. He even says, it hurt, but I though it would be much worse.

Now, all of this time my mom has been assured by my Dad and I that she need not come home until the scheduled return Tuesday night. So, I stay with my dad until I have to leave for SF bay area airport a couple of hours away from us. She doesn't land until 8:45pm. I get into town around 8, stop and grab a bite to eat when she texts me and says, we landed 45 minutes early and I will be at baggage claim. I change my order from dine in to take out and off to the airport. i arrive as the bags on coming out into the baggage claim carrier and she grabs the small bag, I get the big one and we are back off to home. Bay area traffic works in my favor on the way home and I actually get to do the 90 miles journey in an hour and a half instead of the normal 2-2.5 hour trip and we are at the hospital about 10pm.

We stay there for about an hour and I get me mom home by 11:30 and I get home after midnight...

Wednesday 9/2;
         I go in and see my dad about 9 in the morning and my mom has been there since before 7. She wanted to see the doctor(s), they did not come in this morning. Another day of hospital stay, another bandage change and things on on the road to recovery. They want to keep him until the culture results come back which take 2-4 days. I am at the shop by 11, and my mom calls about 5 and says we are going home. I get out to my parents house around 8pm and they have been home about 30 minutes. My wife and I stay for a few hours and make sure everything is going to go as smoothly as possible. As we are leaving my mom hand my wife a greeting card and my wife says, "That is not necessary" to which my mom says, tomorrow is you wedding anniversary...We look at each other and both realize with all of the things going on we had both forgotten.

Thursday 9/3;
         Finally, we get to sleep on our own bed without a care as my dad now has my mom to care for him. The alarm goes off at 6 and I turn it off. I am truly beat as well as my wife. She asks me if I am getting up and I tell her, "I am going to sleep a little bit more"...

We both woke up around 11 am, my first though was...oh boy the sun is up. We went to lunch and spend the day reflecting all of the recent days before having dinner.

Friday 9/4;
         I spent most of the day trying to catch up on the loose ends from the last couple of weeks and trying to get back on track. I hope that I have contacted everyone that emailed me with questions, concerns or problems. If you have not gotten a response from my please email me again and I will get back with you. It is time for me to get to work.

Saturday 9/5;
          I am here at the shop working...

Remember, life can throw curve balls at anytime, hopefully everyone is prepared to come out of the crouch and catch those curve balls.

Randy - RPM

[Bminder]

It's crazy, isn't it Randy.
A friend of mine here in Cheyenne was bitten by a stray cat back in JANUARY! And she's still having severe infections, constant med changes, IV's, hospitalizations, and they are thinking of amputating her pinkie and ring finger back to the wrist because they cannot get on top of the infection.
The docs have told her cat bites are the worst to deal with.

I pray your dad's isn't like that and he heals up quick.
But stay on top of it and get second opinions if you don't think things aren't going like they should.
Don't just assume the doc always knows what they're dong.
A good doctor will be glad you want a second opinion. if one gives you guff, that's a bad sign about that doctor.

[Capn Ron]

Wow Randy...that was a lot to deal with!!!  You're absolutely right...the things that we all worry about rarely happen...it's that curve ball you never saw coming that really gets your attention!!

I hope your dad heals up well and quickly.    Is this emoticon in poor taste?   

Cap'n Ron. . .

[FJmonkey]

Randy, that is some scary stuff!!! Glad your dad is heading in the right direction of healing. Hard to believe that a minor issue like a bite from a cat teaches us that microscopic beasties like bacteria can be so devastating. I'm with Ron  now that the worst is over....

[movenon]

Hope things get back down to a manageable level of stress Randy. Sometimes I hear people say "I am bored", life has taught me to be careful for what you wish for.... A day at a time my friend. 
George

[1tinindian]

A family members health is a life changing thing, when it goes wrong.
I hope your father will recover very soon.

My dads health has altered my whole families lives and how we interact with his disabilities, (strokes),so I can really relate with what you have just had to deal with.

I wish you and your family the best.

Leon

[rktmanfj]

BTDT... I got bit by a stray cat on the right index finger a few years ago, about six weeks before the ECSR, and soon found out they're nothing to mess with.

The damned thing got a fang into the joint capsule, which got seriously infected:



They ended up doing the surgery and debrided the thing:



The doctor found out how fast I can assimilate anesthetics when the nurse started doing a pre-surgery scrub on the other side of the drape (bastard wouldn't let me watch).  When she hit it with a scrub brush, I about came off the table.  They had to redo all three injections.

Even weeks later at the Rally, I could barely get a glove over it.

Best wishes to your Dad for a speedy recovery!

[Bones]

Sooo... What happened to the cat.

[racerrad8]

Sooo... What happened to the cat.

Once the dust settled, they had to quarantine him and then he was put down.

Tough for them to do as he was their cat for close to 10 years and the bite was not a vicious action; my dad was playing with a toy with him and tried to grab it from him and was bitten.

Randy - RPM

[FJmonkey]

Bummer, I like cats   

[Steve_in_Florida]

Bummer, I like cats   

HOLY SHIT, Randy!

Sorry to hear about this incident. Who'da thunk? They _SEEM_ so cute & playful...

So, does this mean you'll be personally running the "Cat Spearing" event booth at one of the future rallies?

Good thoughts toward your fathers' health and well being.

Steve

[Firehawk068]

Holy crap!
Who knew that cat bites were so dangerous? I've been scratched by ours a good many times playing with her, and even had play-bites before...................She's an indoor/outdoor cat as well.
Hopefully your Dad heals up fully.........................Ouch!

[Derek Young]

Its a good thing you live close by and were able to be there for your dad Randy. It sounds like he had a hard time admitting that it was a serious problem. Infections can be life enders. I hope he recovers quickly.

Derek