Personal Struggles--hard times, advice, progress

F/C......your father will have my prayers and you as well. What a difficult time for you whole family.

Thanks Sky!

I have some good news! We met again today with the ortho surgeon and he says they will for sure amputate BELOW the knee! This is the best we could hope for. The surgery will be late tomorrow afternoon. The surgery should only take about 90 mins. If he pulls through it all OK, he will stay at the hospital about 5 days and then go straight to Marion Joy - the best and most sought after rehab center around here. His surgeon said "there is no other choice". He will begin intensive physical therapy as soon as he gets there. He will be in a hard cast up to his groin for about 3 weeks. Then he will have a soft cast and a temp prosthesis will be given to him for a few weeks until the swelling in his upper legs goes down. Then he will be fitted for the permanant prosthesis. He will be at Marion Joy for 3 to 5 weeks depending on how he is doing. If by chance he is only at the rehap center for 3 weeks he would be out for Eric's graduation. I am not getting my hopes up, but it sure would be nice!

Glad for the better news F/C!

Thanks Austin!

We had already been told if it was above the knee there would be no prosthesis and he would never walk again. You know, age, health issues etc. So now we at least have hope that he will walk again someday. Though we were told he would not be able to drive for a very long time. Looks like I will be taking my mom shopping, to her doc appoints., hairdresser, etc. for quite some time. My huge custom conversion van only gets 9 miles to the gallon. The rehab center he is going to is about 45 mins away. This is going to get expensive! I know she will offer me some money for gas sometimes, but I am also worried about their hospital bills. I have no idea what their portion of all of this is going to be. I fear it will be pretty hefty. They do not have much money now as it is because they both have had so many health issues and hospital stays. So much for the Golden Years!

F/C, where this is good news, I still will be sending prayers your way. This has got to be very difficult for you and your father....the whole family. I hope I don't ever have to face this with my sister.

Oh man I have to have oral surgery Thu. morning . I am a NERVOUS WRECK! I have never been sedated in my whole life. I am so scared I will never wake up. or be nauseous. I'm scared. My husband Thank God is going with me. The Oral syrgeon says I will be asleep the rest of that day and groggy for three. I do not like that.

FC, I hope things are going well with your dad. This has to be extremely hard for you. I am so sorry!


Aerwin, I have to have oral surgery this summer. I will definitely have you in my thoughts girl. Be safe and let me know how you are doing!


ETA:
Aerwin, I changed my name on this board. I am IAB, on Idol Forums. You may know that but I wanted to make sure! HA!

Aerwin - it is full general anesthesia or IV sedation? I've only had general once and while it DID make me nauseous for a while after, it really wasn't too bad.

I've had IV sedation more times than I can count and I actually like it. (I'm a weirdo). The only bad part for me is the actual insertion of the IV. I love the lighter-than-air relaxation feeling when the drugs kick in. Then the lovely sleep and the slow coming back to reality. After about a half-hour or so the grogginess is gone for me.

Oh, I just reread your post about being out the whole day and then groggy for 3 days after. I guess that must be general.

I'll be thinking good thoughts.

Hi ladies!

I just got in. It's late and I need to shower and get ready for tomorrow morning and heading off to the hospital again.

I wanted to let you know my dad made it thru the surgery. He seems a bit emotional. Cried when he got back to his room because he said he was so sorry to be such a bother for us. That was tough to see.

The surgeon said the blood flow is really good, better than he expected, where they cut (a little below the knee) and he feels it will heal nicely. He should be off to rehab in about 3 days if all goes well.

Thank you all so much for your prayers and good wishes! Your support and having a place to put all I am feeling down into words is such a help!

Love you guys!

(Aerwin, try not to worry. I have had oral surgery and I have been put out for DNCs and it all worked out just fine. I never got sick even though others said they did, so you may not get sick either. I will send good thoughts and prayers out to you!)

Aerwin, I had FOUR impacted wisdom teeth removed ALL AT ONCE. I was out completely. I was back at work the next day.

Hugs to aerwin and FC...hard times, indeed.

Aerwin, I wish you luck with your surgery...

FC, that is great your Dad is doing ok, and that they were able to do a below the knee vs. above the knee amputation. Rehab in three days????

Wow, that seems fast! But, I am glad to hear it is all set up and the plan is in place. Will the rehab facility be close to your home?

Hi Luca!

Yes, the doc said if all goes well he could leave for rehab Friday. I am actually hoping it will be over the weekend so my hubby and boys can meet us all there. MarianJoy is about 40 mins. from us. I wish it were a bit closer, but it really is "THE" place for this kind of rehab. They are going to be working him really hard, so we thought we would try to visit twice during the week and once on the weekend. More if his spirits are low.

FC I am so glad your Dad came through the surgery.

Thanks Y'all for the good thoughts. I am still so scared. I am afraid I won't wake up. I know it's probably irrational. But I've never had anything done. I should not have watched House last night either.

Well, I didn't see House last night so I have no idea what the content was that may have you more apprehensive, but I do know that my parents, my oldest son, all my in-laws, myself, and many people I know have all come thru surgery just fine and no sickness afterward. I really, truly believe everything will be OK, well, except your mouth will probably hurt for awhile. Mine did, but Advils helped alot. Four every six hours, that's the presciption dose.

You know, my dad's been put out for heart bypass, getting a pacemaker, gallbladder removed, to have his hand repaired after it got caught in a large powersaw which took 6 hours and they flew in a special surgeon) and every time he came out just fine. I know it's scary, but you are young and heathy.

Remember, we are all holding your hand "cyberly"

Well I woke up. it was what I was most terriffied about. I am swollen and in pain. But nothing a little Vicodin won't help.

Glad you made it thru ok aerwin! So do you know whether it was a general or IV sedation?

Have you had Vicodin before? The one time I tried it, it did nothing for my pain and just made me itch all over. But it works for most people.

YAY Aerwin! So glad you got thru it OK . I knew you would! Yeah, your mouth will be sore for awhile. Be careful with the Vicodin. Make sure you eat before taking them. Those things make me vomit. Not to be gross, but you really need to take them with food or they can make you feel really sick. They do help very much with pain. Let us know how you are doing.

Keep my dad in your thoughts if you could. He is having some complications right now. Some internal bleeding. He needed to go into surgery for it yesterday. He needed blood from the blood bank. He can't urinate. His speach is slurred. He is having tremors. They can't get his blood sugar to go down. It is staying around 225-250. I will be leaving for the hospital about 10:00 am hoping and praying things are better today. He was suppose to leave for rehab this weekend if all was well. I have a feeling he will not be going

I sorry F/C. I am hoping things settle down with your dad and he starts improving quickly.

firecracker wrote:

Quote :

He was suppose to leave for rehab this weekend if all was well. I have a feeling he will not be going

Your Dad is in my prayers FC. I thought it would have been very fast for him to go to rehab 3 days after having an amputation...It usually does'nt go that quick from what I have seen with other patients who have had that procedure.

Glad to hear you made it through your dental surgery ok Aerwin! I like Vicodin... does it give you a bit of a euphoric feeling? I hope so!

I agree it seemed so soon, but if it were not for the blood in his urine they would have let him go this weekend. His doctor said that until the urine runs clear he can't leave the hospital. So now it's up to his primary doc to let him leave for rehab. I hope that the urine clears up soon. I think it will do a lot for our moral to see him leave the hospital and move on to the next phase. The longer he stays in the hospital the more it feels like risky part is still with us.

The good thing is a physical therapist from Marian Joy (the rehab) came to the hospital and worked with him today. So that is something.

Today was not a very good day at the hospital My dad still has a lot of blood in his urine. They do not know if it is coming from his prostate or bladder. They are giving him blood via IV. He is very weak. Doesn't say much. Doesn't keep his eyes open for long. He didn't seem to care about anything. I left very depressed. He has no desire to eat. His blood suger is still way too high and they can't get it adjusted yet. I don't know what to do or what to think

I'm sorry F/C. Do they have any idea why this is happening. I guess it's a result of the surgery, or is it because of the infection?

My mom has had that too. Sounds like an infection. I hope Dr. Jerk is taking it seriously.

I don't think it is infection as they have been pumping antibiotics into him via IV for a week and a half. My dad has a very large prostate. It has caused him problems many times, but he won't have it removed as he doesn't want the bag. I think the blood is probably from the prostate, but they say it could be from the bladder also. It's the weekend so no specialists are going to come. I hope on Monday they can get the doc who has treated him for prostrate problems the last several years in there to check him out.

I don't know if his weakness and lack of interests is because of the morphine or not. I am so frustrated because I see no improvement since the surgery. In fact he seems worse. I know it's a long haul back to anything remotely normal in his life, but if he just seemed to have any energy or interest in anything I would feel so much better. I mean the bad heart, high blood sugar, blood in urine, leg amputation, how much can he really take? I can't even imagine how he feels just lying there with all these tubes in him and unable to do anything and not having any idea what the future holds. I'm scared. I can only imagine how scared he is.