We Come Home Tomorrow!

   Our first visitor today was Jaycee, a service dog. Bruce got to pet her. She is part poodle and golden lab, very friendly.

   Bruce is very tired, was up a couple of times last night. Of course he is trying to sleep and he gets interrupted every ten minutes and then it is lunch time.

 Tanner and Tyler brought us the sacrament this afternoon from the Bitterroot ward. 

   The pic line is out, the leash, I mean the catheter is out and we are ready to come home. The wound vac has arrived, they will put ours on Bruce's wound tomorrow. 

  Bruce's kidney count is down, they will do one more lab tomorrow. He has been on oxygen at night He sleeps so deeply his oxygen count goes down. We will do a sleep test when we get home.

         Houston it looks like a go to come home tomorrow.

Family Visit

   My mother and sistah, Bonita and her lovely daughter came for a visit. It is what I needed. We went to cracker Barrel twice and Olive Garden once. Hog heaven, slurp, slurp.  And maybe we did some shopping. My 80 something mom got a coloring book with fashion designs in it. She already had colored pencils. Coloring is apparently the newest thing to distress. I showed her the Duolingo app for free for her iPad. She is learning Italian again. Our family was stationed in Italy when I was young and mom remembers some of it.

   Bonita brought me a recorder and book so will get busy on that. She wants the ukulele back, no problem man. I do not like to say good bye.

  Josie painted our toenails. Very comforting.

  Thank you Ortons for letting my family take over your basement,

 I went home for three days, paid some bills, cleaned the house and found some hand sewing projects to work on. And something new to teach Janie.

   Menu options in the cafeteria this week. Meals are $4 and the salads are great. Today the non patients had hot dogs and onion rings. Only thing offered. Not my favorite but I love onion rings.

  Looks like we will get to go home on Friday or Saturday, a couple of days early. They took him off the antibiotics. Bruce's kidneys are not doing something according to blood tests. The antibiotics he was on have that side effect. So if they are functioning properly we get an early out. 

  I am not looking forward to it. It will mean Duncan and I will have to do the turning every two hours. I need my sleep. Maybe I will sleep on the couch. Andrew might take a night too so that will help.

  Otherwise the wound is healing and is healthy. He has lost almost all movement in his legs. He needs to be ranged twice a day. We will do that at home as I will help to do it. 

  It is raining. The earth is getting cleansed. I am taking a nap.

Slowly Getting Stronger

   Bruce had therapy, he used the table bicycle for ten minutes, the pulleys and then lifted 20 lbs. it wore him out. At least we are not starting with 3/4 lbs this time last year.

   Jean Secl came to visit. It is wonderful to see faces from home and to get away for a bit. We went to Wendy's for dinner, then over to the bookstore to pick up an order I made last week.

   Bruce stood up to day. He is weak and it wore him out but he said his muscles liked it.  Bruce has a Skype meeting with Pres. Chadwick and Pres. Richards tonight. 

Ann and Lee Flower stopped in. Thank you for letting us talk and listening to us.

   Bruce has been sleeping a lot, he gets waken up every two hours day and night to change positions so no pressure on his sore. 

    Robert skyped us. It is most excellent to see the grandchildren. 

   Luke called his father in law passed away on Monday. What a shock, he is only 50. He died in a plane wreck. They are in Cedar City for the funeral. 

   Mom, sistah Bonita and her daughter Josie are here for two days. 

Dad sent a gift certificate to Cracker Barrel and we stuffed our faces. I mean we had a pleasant dinner and quiet social time. Tomorrow we will go for retail therapy.

Boise, ID

   We arrived in Boise n Thursday and got Bruce settled in his room. We will be here 2 - 3 weeks, insurance pays up to 25 days. 

Here is the address if you want to send balloons, cards, chocolate, flowers or treats, oh my.

Southwest Idaho Advanced Hospital Care

Room 216 Bruce Kevan

6651 Franklin Rd, Boise, ID 83709

A lot of the staff remember us and are glad to see Bruce's improvement from last year.

  Bruce slept most of Saturday and today. Eating seems to perk him right up.

He asked for a blessing and Pres. Orton and his son, Devin came over. 

Lonnie Robinson and her husband came over to visit this evening too. I stayed with them last time I was here. They are very kind to us. 

  So we locked the keys in the black car and the nice locksmith came to our rescue this morning. He used a device like a blood pressure tool that inflates a space inside the door then he inserts a long orange wire with hook and the door was open in less than 30 seconds. He said he does 20 - 30 cars a day. He charged us $54. A lesson learned. He sent us a receipt by email fo us to use with our insurance and to make sure we are not stealing the car. We look honest, don't we...

   Duncan went home today. He was here long enough to get me settled but staying in a hospital watching his dad sleep gets a little old after a while. I am staying with Janie and Pres. Orton. I am more comfortable with La Grande folks and I have the whole basement to myself. Visiting hours here are 8am to 8pm. Hopefully PT and OT will begin tomorrow. We need Drs permission for him to sit up on his wound. The weather here is warm enough for hm to go outside so maybe we can do lunch outside tomorrow. 

  






ICU

   Arrived to find Bruce delirious, just moaning in pain. He hasn't eaten anything except pills in applesauce. They said he had physical therapy this morning and they want me to bring up his wrist brace. 

   His fever is gone, his bp goes up and down. They gave him something for the pain. The scan from yesterday showed nothing abnormal. 

   They explained the delirium like this to me; the antibodies are destroying the virus but the bugs being torn apart are producing another bug and that fighting that off produces the delirium. 

   He didn't want the sacrament when Bro Hawks offered it to him. 

If he doesn't improve they will move him to ICU for better observation.

  Now he is resting. I ate his soup and all the chocolate in the room. I am supposed to be fasting. I will read my book., A Slight Trick of the Mind.

   Bruce/dad is in ICU. When I left for dinner they were taking him in for an MRI. He was complaining of a headache. Apparently he was in the machine and started banging on it. It was too loud. He had earphones. They didn't finish the MRI.

   They moved him to ICU. I get to wear a yellow paper shield. Good thing I look good in yella.

  The nurse says he will get worse before he gets better. When he stabilizes they will move him to Boise for wound treatment. Apparently as the bacteria is destroyed the pieces give off toxins and that is what is making him sicker. (Did I tell you this already?)

  My head hurts. Will rest now and go back up in the morning.

Wound Treatment

  We had an infection on his bottom the size of a grapefruit. They took out an abscess the size of a golf ball on his bottom. We are in the hospital at Grande Ronde, second floor. They pumped him full of antibiotics. And we assumed we would be home on Tuesday. 

  Today is Saturday and we are still here.

  They are concerned there is another abcess with all the antibodies pumped in him he is not improving. Bruce is unable to keep the chalk milkshake down to do an MRI. 

  He is in pain from his left arm. They think they have that figured out as the back of the shoulder movement. No blood pressure taking on that arm.

   His fever is gone. His blood pressure leveled out after they put a catheter in last night.

   They do his blood pressure on his right calf as his right arm has the picc line and the left arm is pain sensitive. 

   He is on an oxygen tube around his neck and in his nose, (I don't want to say tube because that implies it is down his throat), the levels are good. They are concerned about pneumonia because he is not active. 

   He is not eating. He has nausea. They gave him Tylenol for the pain and waiting for dr for more instructions. 

  We have to wait for the paper work to go through to send him to Boise and that will be Mon. or Tuesday. They want to put him in care where he will get the full range of treatment including physical therapy and they don't have that in La Grande. I asked. I don't want to go back to Boise. They said it would take 2 - 3 weeks for th wound to heal.

   He has a vacumn pump on the wound. 

 He is in and out to communicate. He nods off and when awake he says, "ouch, ouch, oh it hurts."

 I put chap stick on his lips. He is pretty scruffy looking, five days of growth on his chin. He and Andrew could have a hairy contest.

  The nurses are calm and efficient. Me too, I'm reading a book.

Sent from my iPad

Fevers, Chills and Tears, oh my

   The girls high school soccer team made some meals for us on Monday including two desserts. Yeah. I put one in the freezer and we devoured the other. They were yummy. Thank you for the meal fundraiser. 

   Bruce has had fever and chills for a couple of days, took him to the Dr. Thursday. Bruce has a bladder infection and an abscess. Just happy it isn't a bed sore, he is on antibiotics so should be feeling better by the end of the day. Now we get to drain the abscess... I'm learning all kinds of new things.

   Started two new quilt tops. Love the bright colors. 

  This is my Halloween disappearing four patch. I need to put a binding on it. 

   My furnace is happy, it whistles. Will have to call the contractors today to have them listen to it. It is annoying. Then we can all whistle.

   Andrew called, he might get to come home on Saturday. His phone works, the unplanned swim in the toilet wasn't that bad. He has had a couple of missionary moments, he is growing up. Just needed to get away from mommy telling him what to do all the time. There are three engine crews there. Mostly they count the semis hauling logs to make a barrier. One day he did get out of the engine and sharpened some tools. He finished the three books he took so is reading his BOM. 

  I mopped the floor and cleaned a bathroom. Today I will vacuum. Life is hard. Ha ha

   Rosala brought a yummy pork and tater dish and the dessert, I mean salad was an orange custard jello with mandarin oranges. Thank you it was very good. Sonnet has been coming over to walk the dog. Rosala also sent over some Halloween fabric to make a fun curtain for under the sink. It will be a great seasonal change. I just like holding it and looking at the bright happy color.

  Bruce has been on antibiotics for two days and still he has fever and chills. We squeezed the abscess this morning and it drained. That was unnerving. They make a cool spray saline spray. 

  Friday the contractors fixed the whistling furnace. They put insulation around an electrical outlet. Glad it was that easy to fix.

  Andrew called and hopes to come home on Monday. They saw a black bear. He said he didn't know how fast they could run. He has been counting semis from the engine. He is dying of boredom. The semis are hauling trees out making a barrier. They count up to fifty loads a day.

   Bruce isn't doing well so the priesthood is coming over to give him a blessing. In Sunday school we were discussing how to endure trials. And one sister said our trials were like a moment in time. Ahem. I had to bite my tongue. This trial has lasted longer than a moment and I am not a happy camper. 

  Andrew called, crying, he has to stay five more days. This is the last fire of the season and they want to get their moneys worth. The engine captain gets $500 a day. Andrew sounded tired and frustrated. He feels he is wasting his time by doing nothing. He says only 16 semis are left to do the clearing. He said he filled in potholes in the road. He had to get out of the cab because he blew up at the engine captain. I asked him questions to try and work through his feelings. He says he loves us and to pray for him. His dad told him to get a good night sleep. 

   I hate this. I will go start a load of laundry.