Jo and I are back in Oklahoma City for a few weeks or so. We got word from our youngest son, Eric, that he had surgery early Friday morning for an abscess. Since that abscess is in a "delicate" location, thus difficult for him to treat himself, we drove down to be the caregivers after he gets released from the hospital.
Right now, he is in good spirits, but he is battling two different infections. One is a known infection, while the other is unknown until they "read" the cultures (or whatever it is doctors do with those.) Contrary to what he likes, he is pretty much bed-ridden at the hospital until those are under control.
The abscess needs to be packed with gauze twice a day so that it can heal from the inside. That is where we come in with regards to the care he needs when he gets out.
For those that are believers, please offer up prayers for Eric. I'm pretty sure all of you will have good thoughts for him. Thanks in advance for that.
Terry
Barbaraok said
12:59 PM Feb 15, 2015
It is literally 'reading' the culture plates to see how the bacteria grows, the shape, etc., and which antibiotic prevents the bacteria from replicating itself. Cross fingers that the particular bacteria is killed easily because if it is one that has mutated and is resistant to common antibiotics, then it is really difficult and the antibiotics you have to use have bad side effects. Stock up on yogurt to help replace intestinal bacteria that are needed by the body.
Barb
Bill and Jodee said
01:49 PM Feb 15, 2015
Prayers for Eric's speedy recovery. Doesn't matter how old they are, they're still our babies when they're sick!
You two remember to take care of yourselves as well
Jodee
marianne57 said
01:54 PM Feb 15, 2015
Our thoughts and prayers go for all of you, Terry and Jo, but especially for Eric. Praying for a quick and full recovery. Please take care.
VanMar said
06:53 PM Feb 15, 2015
Terry,
You and Jo, as well as Eric, are in our prayers.
As a side note, the pastor at our chapel here in Brownsville, retired from a church in Tulsa, is the best we've encountered in six months. I guess they know how to grow 'em in Oklahoma!
Love to all three.
Vance and Marla
PD CFK said
07:45 PM Feb 15, 2015
Terry and Jo, Prayers for healing and a speedy recovery for Eric. Pat K
gilljr said
07:51 PM Feb 15, 2015
Prayers for all of you. God speed.
Ran n Jo said
08:04 PM Feb 15, 2015
Terry & Jo,
Sending warm thoughts and healing vibes to all three of you from the east coast.
Terry and Jo said
08:34 PM Feb 15, 2015
Eric is doing nicely, and there is a possibility of the release from the hospital being tomorrow. It can't arrive soon enough for him. He absolutely HATES being confined to the bed, and I can't say I blame him.
It looks like there will be the possibility of a home care nurse coming around once a day to repack the gauze in the abscess. (I was wrong when I said twice a day.) I like the idea of a nurse doing it, especially considering there were infections involved. A nurse would be quicker to spot problems than what Jo and I would notice.
When we arrived at his room this morning, we were pleased to see our oldest son there. We got to visit with both of them for 3 or 4 hours. We have an invite tomorrow evening to supper at the home of the older son (his name is Kevin), his wife, and the four grandkids. Oh, speaking of grandkids, Nate is the oldest at 8-years-old. Kevin was assembling a bunk bed set a while back and had all but the ladder installed when Nate told his dad that he had done it wrong. Nate had noticed that the holes for the ladder for the top bunk were on the wrong side, something that Kevin had missed. So, Kevin got to take it all apart again.
Us older guys REALLY need to learn to read the instructions.
Terry
el Rojo and Pam said
09:23 AM Feb 16, 2015
Glad Eric is doing better. More prayers sent.
Red and Pam.
Dave Buck said
03:50 PM Feb 16, 2015
I glad that Eric is doing better. Praying for Eric as well as you and Jo.
Terry and Jo said
07:05 PM Feb 16, 2015
Eric was released about 5:00 this evening. There will be an appointment to set up for a home health care nurse to come by once a day to repack the abscess. He is certainly glad to be free of all the tubes and other paraphernalia that was hooked up to him. He will be off from work for a while on FMLA leave. That will help him quite a bit until he is more capable of getting back to work.
Thanks to all for your thoughts and prayers. Jo and I will probably stick around until he can better function in all the things he needs to do around the apartment, but we have no idea how long that will take.
On another note is that there was a storm with rain/sleet/ice that came through last night. It was really cold (22 degrees) this morning while I stood outside and scraped off the windows of our Expedition. We are anxious to get back to Colorado to "better" cold weather. Oklahoma City has higher humidity and higher winds than what we had in Colorado, so we've been spoiled and don't like the Oklahoma winter.
Terry
PIEERE said
11:50 AM Feb 18, 2015
Happy to hear Eric is doing better! More prayer sent! Be safe" Iced in here. Nashville is about shut down. Will not start thawing until Sat. pm. according to NWS.
bigboomer said
06:04 PM Feb 18, 2015
Glad to hear Eric is doing better, we will continue to pray for his complete recovery.
Les and Sue
Larry and Bandit said
03:34 PM Mar 2, 2015
Terry and Jo, Thoughts and prayers are with Eric and you two.
WestWardHo said
09:19 AM Mar 3, 2015
So sorry to read about Eric and so glad you could go be with him to help in his care! I tell EVERYONE if someone is very sick or recovering from surgery, they need an advocate there. Nurses are awesome Angels but so much gets missed as I think they're often overworked. Don't be surprised if he's a little more exhausted the first two days at home so hopefully you are able to stay.
I can relate to your weather as there was high winds and 2-4 inches on snow when I left Prescott last night.
Sherry
Terry and Jo said
06:49 PM Mar 3, 2015
Just an update about this issue. Eric is doing fine, but the abscess is deep enough it will take some time to heal from the inside. Home health nurses come by each day to do the repacking, and they are saying that he is improving. The issue now is what will happen if the doctor releases him to return to work, even though the abscess does still discharge some. According to the nurses, if he is released to go back to work, then the home health nurses can't continue to see him UNLESS there is some approval of some kind.
Eric has another appointment with the doctor day after tomorrow, and if he does release him for work and we don't get that approval for home health to continue, it looks like we would have to stay down here even longer. At this stage, that could mean that we would be here for a number of weeks yet to come.
At this rate, with all the trips back to Oklahoma, I may never get acclimated to the thinner air in the mountains.
Terry
suse1023 said
05:39 AM Mar 8, 2015
Best wishes for a complete and uneventful recovery asap.
Jo and I are back in Oklahoma City for a few weeks or so. We got word from our youngest son, Eric, that he had surgery early Friday morning for an abscess. Since that abscess is in a "delicate" location, thus difficult for him to treat himself, we drove down to be the caregivers after he gets released from the hospital.
Right now, he is in good spirits, but he is battling two different infections. One is a known infection, while the other is unknown until they "read" the cultures (or whatever it is doctors do with those.) Contrary to what he likes, he is pretty much bed-ridden at the hospital until those are under control.
The abscess needs to be packed with gauze twice a day so that it can heal from the inside. That is where we come in with regards to the care he needs when he gets out.
For those that are believers, please offer up prayers for Eric. I'm pretty sure all of you will have good thoughts for him. Thanks in advance for that.
Terry
Barb
You two remember to take care of yourselves as well
Jodee
Our thoughts and prayers go for all of you, Terry and Jo, but especially for Eric. Praying for a quick and full recovery. Please take care.
Terry,
You and Jo, as well as Eric, are in our prayers.
As a side note, the pastor at our chapel here in Brownsville, retired from a church in Tulsa, is the best we've encountered in six months. I guess they know how to grow 'em in Oklahoma!
Love to all three.
Vance and Marla
Sending warm thoughts and healing vibes to all three of you from the east coast.
Eric is doing nicely, and there is a possibility of the release from the hospital being tomorrow. It can't arrive soon enough for him. He absolutely HATES being confined to the bed, and I can't say I blame him.
It looks like there will be the possibility of a home care nurse coming around once a day to repack the gauze in the abscess. (I was wrong when I said twice a day.) I like the idea of a nurse doing it, especially considering there were infections involved. A nurse would be quicker to spot problems than what Jo and I would notice.
When we arrived at his room this morning, we were pleased to see our oldest son there. We got to visit with both of them for 3 or 4 hours. We have an invite tomorrow evening to supper at the home of the older son (his name is Kevin), his wife, and the four grandkids. Oh, speaking of grandkids, Nate is the oldest at 8-years-old. Kevin was assembling a bunk bed set a while back and had all but the ladder installed when Nate told his dad that he had done it wrong. Nate had noticed that the holes for the ladder for the top bunk were on the wrong side, something that Kevin had missed. So, Kevin got to take it all apart again.
Us older guys REALLY need to learn to read the instructions.
Terry
Red and Pam.
Eric was released about 5:00 this evening. There will be an appointment to set up for a home health care nurse to come by once a day to repack the abscess. He is certainly glad to be free of all the tubes and other paraphernalia that was hooked up to him. He will be off from work for a while on FMLA leave. That will help him quite a bit until he is more capable of getting back to work.
Thanks to all for your thoughts and prayers. Jo and I will probably stick around until he can better function in all the things he needs to do around the apartment, but we have no idea how long that will take.
On another note is that there was a storm with rain/sleet/ice that came through last night. It was really cold (22 degrees) this morning while I stood outside and scraped off the windows of our Expedition. We are anxious to get back to Colorado to "better" cold weather. Oklahoma City has higher humidity and higher winds than what we had in Colorado, so we've been spoiled and don't like the Oklahoma winter.
Terry
Terry and Jo, Thoughts and prayers are with Eric and you two.
I can relate to your weather as there was high winds and 2-4 inches on snow when I left Prescott last night.
Sherry
Just an update about this issue. Eric is doing fine, but the abscess is deep enough it will take some time to heal from the inside. Home health nurses come by each day to do the repacking, and they are saying that he is improving. The issue now is what will happen if the doctor releases him to return to work, even though the abscess does still discharge some. According to the nurses, if he is released to go back to work, then the home health nurses can't continue to see him UNLESS there is some approval of some kind.
Eric has another appointment with the doctor day after tomorrow, and if he does release him for work and we don't get that approval for home health to continue, it looks like we would have to stay down here even longer. At this stage, that could mean that we would be here for a number of weeks yet to come.
At this rate, with all the trips back to Oklahoma, I may never get acclimated to the thinner air in the mountains.
Terry