Conklin as of 8/12/09

[FJ Flyer]

Steve's vein blew this morning (Wednesday 8/12) and his IV antibiotic was trickling down his arm.  The nurses stuck him a few time before finding a good vein on the inside of his left wrist.  You could tell by the grimacing that it was a very uncomfortable ordeal for Steve.

Physical therapy came today and sat him up on the side of the bed.  Due to the newly discovered broken arm he didn't attempt to get out of bed again today.  Just sitting upright felt great, but was short lived when he turned white as a sheet and had to be laid back down.  He's very weak today and feeling generally lousy.  He's going to be transported to the rehab facility tomorrow and I think once he's able move around and sit up for longer periods of time he will gradually begin to feel a lot better.  Food would help, but he just won't eat.  He's drinking Ensure or Glucerna.  He tried some chicken noodle soup today but we had to coax him to eat that.

They brought in the arm brace today that was made for his right arm and it was too small.  They re-measured and will bring a larger one in the morning.  In the meantime the arm is very sore due to yesterdays movement in & out of the bed prior to realizing it was broken. 

The plastic surgeon removed the drain tube and 40 stitches from his inner thigh where the muscle was borrowed for his leg.  That's been rewrapped and will be left in place to continue healing for 3 weeks.  He then removed the bandaging from the surgery area on his leg.  It looks bad, but he promised it would look just like the other leg by Christmas.  The doctor said it's 100% where he would want it to be at this stage and absolutely no signs of infection.  Yeah for that! Steve must take an aspirin daily for the next 3 months to keep the blood thinned and flowing thru the flap.  His leg must remain elevated and loosely wrapped for the next 3 weeks.  Then he will remove the staples and stitches and change the bandaging to a tight wrap and allow Steve to put pressure on his foot for the first time.

The Ortho doctor will decide how much longer he needs to have IV antibiotics.  The plastic surgeon says he can switch to orals as far as the flap is concerned.

Whew, look at the time.  Gotta hit the sheets.  More tomorrow night!!

Janie

[Marsh White]

That is painful just to read. 

[ssuv93]

I have been on oral antibiotics for two months now, and I feel like crap.   I can't imagine what it would feel like to be on intravenous antibiotics.  I understand his not wanting to eat, not even counting the injuries to his body. 

             Steve, my prayers for you to recover as soon as posible, and to have peace as you do.

                  Murray