More Updates

6-15-12  Update on Josh - A home-nurse came again today and watched Josh change the meds for his IV. He is a pro now. He knows what to do and is doing pretty well today. He is back to normal, except for the pressure sore issue. We are hoping to get that second opinion from another Infectious Disease doctor concerning the amount of time needed before the flap surgery on the pressure sore.

Eric and I had a date night tonight. We went out for dinner. It was great to just relax and have a nice dinner out together. We brought home leftovers that were quickly polished off by our starving children that were left behind. :)

I heard a wonderful song on the way to work this morning. I did post it a couple hours ago here on FB. The Hurt and the Healer by MercyMe.  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxqfDs-64I0&feature=share)   It brought tears to my eyes. They were actually tears of joy and thankfulness. We are the "hurt" and when we collide with the Healer (God), wonderful things happen...the hurt get well or blessed in some way. I am truly blessed. God is with us every step of the way helping us and even carrying us at times. He allows opportunities of trials in our lives so that we will grow closer to Him and also glorify Him. For all those who are hurting in your lives, I hope you collide with the Healer.

Keep the prayers coming. We still have a long road ahead. We are human and will definitely falter at times, but your prayer support will lift us back up during those times. Love you all,

Sue

_______________________________________

6-16-12   Still not sure if Josh will have his surgery next Tuesday. I hope they let us know soon.

________________________________________

6-24-12  It looks like Josh's surgery will NOT take place this Tuesday. He has an appointment set up for Friday with the plastic surgeon. We will learn more at that time. It is probably good that they wait a bit before having the surgery to give the antibiotics time to work on the bone infection. We will keep you posted.

Update 6-14-12

Update on Josh - HE IS HOME!!! God is so good. Josh is in his bed all hooked up to IV's with heavy duty antibiotics. The home-nurse was here and hooked it all up and showed us how to care for Josh. They have a 24 hour phone line if we need any help. Josh will be taking other meds orally as well. He is set up with doctor visits in the near future to check on things. He will have blood drawn at times by the home-nurse. As I mentioned before, the infectious disease doctor said that Josh needs to be on these IV's for 6 weeks before he can have surgery and the wound doctor said it would be ok to have the surgery on time (June 26th). We are going to get a second opinion from another infectious disease doctor on this. I will keep you posted on the surgery date. Josh requested bratts on the grill for supper tonight. We were very happy to supply that meal to help fatten him up. ***THANK YOU AGAIN FOR ALL YOUR PRAYERS*** God has given me a wonderful Medical Case Manager through our auto insurance. I still have not met her in person, but she is going to help me with making sure the hospital and all the doctors involved bill our insurance companies correctly. Somehow they are not processing the bills properly and thus, they are not getting paid. And guess who is getting the bills and threats of collection. We have always done the proper thing and paid our insurance premiums and now they want to do this to us. We went through all of this 8 years ago. It is soooooo very frustrating when we are trying to just stay afloat with the medical issues at hand consuming our time. Among the many things that Jennifer (our case manager) is going to do for us, she will take all the bills and our insurance information and take that burden off my hands. She will contact each provider and help them understand what to do. She is a God-send. I can feel the weight lightening off my shoulders. When I finally meet Jennifer in person, she is getting the biggest hug ever.

Update 6-13-12

Update on Josh - Was hoping he could maybe come home today, but no such luck. He is still on IV meds for the bone infection. The infectious disease doctors said that Josh will have to wait 6 weeks before having his surgery (which is set just 2 weeks away right now). They want to let the the meds work on the infection. The wound doctor told Josh that he should be able to keep that surgery date for June 26th and that the surgeon will just scrape off all the infected part of the bone during the surgery. So....which way is it??? I asked the nurse if the two sets of doctors could discuss Josh's case together and come up with a plan. She said she would talk to both doctors and get them together. If that happens, it will be great. But I have been promised things by the nurses and they never really happened. If nothing happens by tomorrow afternoon, the doctors will hear from me in person. Josh does need to put some meat on his bones before the surgery too. His protein levels are way down, just like when he was in the hospital in March. Lisa brought him some food for dinner tonight and he ate more than I have seen him eat in a long time. I commented on his big appetite, but he then let me know that he wasn't really hungry at all, but knew he needed to eat as much as possible so he could have the surgery. He didn't feel well a few minutes after eating all the food. So, he will have to learn to graze throughout the day and make sure the food is full of protein. From what I understand, Josh will be able to come home with the IV's and Isaiah (brother) will help him with everyday needs. Josh will still be on full bed rest until the surgery and will need someone to do everything for him and even help him transfer to his wheelchair to shower or use the bathroom. Enough for now. Time for bed. Thank you everyone for your prayers. God is listening and answering.

Update 6-12-12

Update on Josh - I am writing this from a hospital computer. I called Josh on my lunch break today and he sounded GREAT. He sounded like he was back to normal. I asked if he could come home tonight. He thought maybe he could since he was doing so well. I called again on my way up to see him after work and he said he could not come home tonight. They are watching his kidney function. It was on the abnormal side and they want to keep an eye on it a little longer. The bone biopsy came back and he does have an infeciton in the bone. They are giving him antibiotics for that. The infectious desease doctor is supposed to come up tonight to go over some things but we haven't see him yet. Maybe tomorrow....of course I will be at work. I will have to ask that they give me a report by phone or in written form. This computer is really slow. I will maybe type more when I get home.

Update 6-11-12

Josh update: I think we are starting to move in the right direction now. Josh hasn't been running temperatures. He is still cold all the time, but I think anyone would when you are stationary all the time. When I went up to the hospital after work tonight, the nurse said that we probably wouldn't hear anything about the wound culture or bone biopsy for about a week. He did drink some more apple Ensure nutrition drinks today with lots of ice of course. I called Josh on my way up to the hospital to see what sounded good to eat. With a little coaxing, he finally said he would eat an Arby's roast beef sandwich and a blue slushy from Meijers. He did eat the whole sandwich, which I know he forced himself to eat. That is progress. Before, he couldn't even force himself to eat anything due to the nausea. Since he was doing better, I decided to leave around 6:30ish so that Josh and Lisa Wojciechowski could have some time alone together. Hopefully Josh will be able to come home soon. Thank you everyone for your prayers. They are working!!!  His hemoglobin is still quite low, but hopefully the iron pills will do the trick.

6-10-12 Update

Update on Josh - I was so encouraged that Josh was able to drink (and keep down) the Ensure nutrition drink last night. Today, he didn't want anything for breakfast, and then tried a chocolate Ensure for lunch. It was warm and he ended up throwing it all up. I don't think he will ever drink chocolate Ensure ever again. He did eat 2 small BBQ boneless chicken wings and kept that down this afternoon. At dinner time they tried an Apple Ensure nutrition drink. It was warm, so I got some ice in a cup and poured the drink in that. He was able to drink it and keep it down. He is still very nauseous all the time. I hope that goes away as he gets better and gets used to having food in his stomach again. Josh's kidney lab report showed some slight abnormalities and they are keeping an eye on that. They did an ultrasound on his bladder and kidneys today. We are also waiting on results from the wound culture and bone biopsy (bone inside the wound). I keep missing the doctor when he makes his rounds. He comes early in the morning and I just don't get there in time. I did ask the nurse if the doctor could give me a call. I finally talked to him about an hour ago. He said that the ultrasound of the bladder and kidneys look good. Josh is anemic and they are starting him on iron pills. They started a different kind of antibiotic now that they know what kind of bacteria is causing the bladder infection (E. Coli). They keep giving him anti-nausea medicine, but he remains nauseous anyway and then has to deal with the side effects (drowsiness). He must have weird dreams when on those meds; he moves around a lot while in a deep sleep. Josh's hemoglobin count is low. They are watching that too. The doctor is hoping that if all goes well with the new antibiotic, Josh will hopefully come home Tuesday or Wednesday. If the wound culture or bone biopsy come back positive for infection, then there will be more time at the hospital to deal with that. Josh was still feeling pretty crappy today, but I think I saw a teeny little bit of improvement. Thank you everyone for your prayers. God is good and we are resting and trusting in His promises.

Hospital

Josh was admitted into the hospital (Metro in Grand Rapids, MI) on Thursday and is still there.  He had been having high temperatures on and off for a couple weeks. Recently, his whole body has started to ache, especially the joints in his arms and wrists.  I am sure it doesn't help that hes has to lay in bed all the time since he was ordered to strict bed rest.  He had also become extremely lethargic, to the point of sleeping all the time and not even being able to carry on a conversation without dozing off in mid-sentence.  He even seemed disoriented at times.

The verdict so far is that he has a severe bladder infection and I even heard a nurse say that he had a slight blood infection.  The doctor never mentioned it though.  Josh did have a slight elevation in his white blood cell count, so maybe that is what she meant.

The wound doctor came in to see Josh yesterday.  While inspecting the wound, he had found small pieces of bone in it.  Recently Josh had fallen when transferring from his bed to his chair and probably hit something hard to cause this.  Josh has lost all his strength from the constant bed rest and infection in his body.  He is not able to be independent with anything right now.  He will need constant care until the surgery and recovery is done.  It is just so hard to see an active and athletic young man go downhill like this.

As I learn more, I will keep you posted.  I also put updates on my Facebook page (Susan Stricker Holt).

Thank you everyone for your prayers.  God can work a miracle!