Some days it's just hard getting out of bed when you know you have a challenging day ahead.
Most of my days consist of getting up to greet my energy bouncy grandson (somedays he reminds me of Tigger on "Winnie The Pooh" ) when Kimberly drops him off in the mornings before she goes to work.
I, like most people have a list of "To Do's" that we'd like finished before the
end of the day...and sometimes you have the UNEXPECTED happen that set's
you off your course.
We'll my story is about my dad who had a total knee revision done last week.
He had both of his knee's replace around 10 years ago.
Lately he has had alot of knee pain which eventually the doctor told him
that his left knee had worn out and would need the plastic replaced with a chance that if he had something unexpected come up he might have to do a total knee revision again. Which did happen. The bone never grew to the new knee hardware (which might explain why it wore out so fast and why he was in so much pain), so the doctor took the old one out and replaced it with a new
shiny one.
He had a few small episodes with his sugar level being low while in there
but seemed to have it under control. They transferred him to a skilled
nursing facility which was really nice. It was like staying in a 5 star hotel.
We soon discovered that the only care he got was from us or unless it was
in rehab or when we called for something. We were told that a skilled nursing facility was for people that was pretty well on their own but needed therapy
or a touch of care.
My dad needed an acute nursing facility, where they monitor your care continuiously.
Well my brother and sister-in-law went in on Sunday to visit and check up on my dad when he wasn't in his room....figuring that he was in therapy. A few minutes later a young lady brought my dad in the room in his wheelchair when
she said she found him down the hall wondering around. My brother became furious to think he had gotten out of bed on his own and had made it to the wheelchair and was pushing himself around the facility. He had almost fallen twice when someone was close by to catch him on both occasion.
He had called my sister to vent...which in turn she quickly drove in to see him. While they both were there they had determined that the infection in the knee had grown worse that it would be best to take him to the ER to make sure it hadn't grown into gangreen. They we're in the ER 9 hrs before he was transfered back to the original hospital. They called people in to staff the hospital just for my dad because the doctor wanted him back there to keep an
eye on him.
We'll for a few days the infection didn't seem to get much better after being on strong antibotic's, so they determined it was best to go back in and make sure the infection hadn't made it to the knee itself. They cleaned it all out and treated it with antibotic's.
He was in excursiating pain afterwards.
Today he done so much better, so hopefully he will be on the road to recovery
very soon. We still have to send him to a rehad facility before going home but
maybe next week at this time he will be going home or soon afterwards.
There was so much more to the story but this is a touch of our experience with
our dad.
My advice to those who might be in the same situation someday. Talk with the nurses and caseworker to determine what kind of rehab facility they will be going to. There is acute, transitional and skilled nursing facilities. My dad needed an acute facility and was sent to a skilled nursing facility.
Thank you Todd and Susan for your many hours of caring for dad.
Sometimes I'll find myself daydreaming of sitting on a sandy beach, watching the sunset into the ocean, with a cool breeze with the smell of the ocean blowing on my face, taking all my cares and worries away.....
And now I am preparing for the next chapter in my book.......
Scott's back surgery in 2 days.
