Ken (NBT) is out of Surgery, Dawn back in the Hospital.

NBT said:
Greeting everyone,

Well I started administrative duty Monday (had to get the hell out of the house). It is good to be working, even though I was reminded by the MD that I will have a total of 4 months after surgery, before he will clear me to full duty at the firehouse.:mad: Nothing I can do about it, so... I work on "working the shoulder out".... PT is good (painful), and I am liberal about doing the routine. I am not worried about me.

Dawn on the other hand is "stuck" in her current state...which is much impproved since her admission and diagnosis of the MRSA, and Osteomylitis.
The home health nurse we have for her is great, and seems that her lab's have stabilized. She is still on the Vancomycin, having pain with little effort, still using a walker to get up from a chair, or from out of bed. :dontknow:
We have gotten her out lately, and we worked on her driving last week, before I started leaving her alone at the house while I am on a 40 hour work week. She went for a short trip to the grocery tonight, and now she is paying for it, but I believe the trip out was a cognitive gain for her, and will aid in improvement. She still has a long road ahead of her. We asked one of her MD's when she can get off all the pain med's, and he pretty much said....maybe never. :dontknow: Depends where you end up when this is all done. He is not the first person to state this, and it has me concerned, as this is no quality of life. I can tell you that there is no way she could work in the ER again, attempt CPR, patient movement, or being on her feet for longer than brief periods. The trip today gave her a 2 + pitting edema to her ankles. I pray that this improves over the remaining month of antibiotic administration, and hope that a comlete remission of the Osteomylitis is achieved.

We are still going round and round with Aflac...never had a problem before... not that we had any claims like this... they are not the umbrella of protection we were sold on seven years ago.... it's an A policy.

Were hanging in there though.;) :)

Thanks for all the prayer's and support.

Ken and Dawn
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Congratulations on your return to administrative duty!!:rock: It sucks about Dawn though. I wish there was something I could do for her. Pain is such a horrible thing in the first place and having to depend on meds that also make you feel bad is a double ****:( . I will keep praying for her full recovery. Hang in there friends ................
 
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Wifey said:
Congratulations on your return to administrative duty!!:rock: It sucks about Dawn though. I wish there was something I could do for her. Pain is such a horrible thing in the first place and having to depend on meds that also make you feel bad is a double *****:( . I will keep praying for her full recovery. Hang in there friends ................
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Yeah...it's like watching paint dry... but it is something to do.
Much rather be out on the line.... but that's not going to happen at least until July 5th.
Dawn is liberal about doing her PT at home, and as long as they keep her pain managed, she can get it done without too much discomfort.

Thanks Denise.
 
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:dito::withstupid:

Glad things are starting to improve, even if it is a little at a time!!
 
NBT said:
Greeting everyone,

............We asked one of her MD's when she can get off all the pain med's, and he pretty much said....maybe never. :dontknow: Depends where you end up when this is all done. He is not the first person to state this, and it has me concerned, as this is no quality of life..............
Click to expand...

Damn, that sucks. :(

Sure as hell hope that they are just being pestimistic on that call.
 
NBT said:
Greeting everyone,

Well I started administrative duty Monday (had to get the hell out of the house). It is good to be working, even though I was reminded by the MD that I will have a total of 4 months after surgery, before he will clear me to full duty at the firehouse.:mad: Nothing I can do about it, so... I work on "working the shoulder out".... PT is good (painful), and I am liberal about doing the routine. I am not worried about me.

Dawn on the other hand is "stuck" in her current state...which is much impproved since her admission and diagnosis of the MRSA, and Osteomylitis.
The home health nurse we have for her is great, and seems that her lab's have stabilized. She is still on the Vancomycin, having pain with little effort, still using a walker to get up from a chair, or from out of bed. :dontknow:
We have gotten her out lately, and we worked on her driving last week, before I started leaving her alone at the house while I am on a 40 hour work week. She went for a short trip to the grocery tonight, and now she is paying for it, but I believe the trip out was a cognitive gain for her, and will aid in improvement. She still has a long road ahead of her. We asked one of her MD's when she can get off all the pain med's, and he pretty much said....maybe never. :dontknow: Depends where you end up when this is all done. He is not the first person to state this, and it has me concerned, as this is no quality of life. I can tell you that there is no way she could work in the ER again, attempt CPR, patient movement, or being on her feet for longer than brief periods. The trip today gave her a 2 + pitting edema to her ankles. I pray that this improves over the remaining month of antibiotic administration, and hope that a comlete remission of the Osteomylitis is achieved.

We are still going round and round with Aflac...never had a problem before... not that we had any claims like this... they are not the umbrella of protection we were sold on seven years ago.... it's an A policy.

Were hanging in there though.;) :)

Thanks for all the prayer's and support.

Ken and Dawn
Click to expand...

Ken, I haven't kep up with this thread and I apologize for that, but I've thought about and prayed for you guys every day and will continue to do so. hang in there, all is gonna be well with both of you guys...
 
Kenny I need an update please...I will check back later today and if you have not posted expect a call from me on Tuesday. My next day off. I pray for you guys every day and I hope that she feels better soon....Love You brother :rock:
 
TheSickness said:
Kenny I need an update please...I will check back later today and if you have not posted expect a call from me on Tuesday. My next day off. I pray for you guys every day and I hope that she feels better soon....Love You brother :rock:
Click to expand...

Well let's see. I managed to get Dawn out of the house Saturday afternoon. One of our officer's at the Fire Department got married, and it was great to be there...with Dawn.
She was able to take the ride there and back, and the entire ceremony. She paid for it the rest of the evening, but was refreshing to get her out of the house.
For the most part her baseline is better than when we started, however, she still has marginal pain on movement, 2 plus pitting edema to her feet with marginal exertion (not sure why yet). The edema has gotten somewhat better. Her back is still mottled at and around the surgical site, and produces no drainage.
She has a MD appointment in a week, and I fear he is ready to "cut her loose". I am sure the MD is over this mess. I hope he intends to get her into PT, and continue care for 4 to 6 more weeks. When I was talking to the MD, that 6 months of no pay for the Mrs's was getting old, he knee jerked, and said "well we can skip the PT, and clear her to work at the end of May".:banghead: Unreal... I was trying to get an adequate time frame for her return, not cut off the required PT that she will need to be able to function at her nursing job.
The MD did get a letter done for the insurance company (describing an acute injury vs. degenerative disc disease) so we will see if it helps.:dontknow:
That's why they did not cover her incident...they read degenerative in Dawn's chart, and stuck with it. It just so happens that the degenerative disc, was not the one herniated, or operated on.:banghead: Going around with the insurance co. has been a nightmare. That's what I get for giving them a cumulative report (I had nursing notes, MRI results, timeline, admission paperwork, ect ect.) on Dawn, vs. just submitting the vague paperwork they require.
That in it of itself will assist in keeping our heads above water, and assist in allowing us to keep Dawn in PT past the 20 visits (only) that our insurance pay's for...if needed.
Her continued pain with movement on transition, sitting, or prolonged periods on her feet...we fear that she may have to look at employment in another field of nursing instead of Med -Surg.:dontknow:... certainly not going to be able to run 30 minutes of CPR in the ER.
She is a "long" way off from full time employment, but she remains optomistic about a complete recovery, and return to work.
We still need everyone's prayers.
We also consulted legal council on Friday, and will have an appointment next week, to review these unfortunate event's over the past 6 months.
I can tell you , that I / we have only used a lawyer once, and that was to purchace property. We are a bit nervous, and question ourselves if this is the right choice:dontknow:... most people we have talked to are pretty confident it is, with the exception of a few. We understand both point of views.
The consult will be interesting to say the least.

The shoulder is improving, still can't raise the arm over 90 degrees until 8 week's post op. Sleeping is still a struggle, however last night I was able to get almost 4 hours of straight sleep:rock: The shoulder will be fine after some more time and PT. My MD and staff have been great.

I am getting Dawn to church this morning. This has been a great weekend for us so far, and will be continuing it today.

We thank God for each and every one of you here on the forum... as you have blessed our lives, have allowed us to keep afloat, provided moral and financial support, and continued thought's and prayers.

Forever grateful,

Ken & Dawn
 
Ken, keep the faith brother. It sounds like there is some improvement in Dawn's condition and that is goodness. I am sure after all of this it will take some time to get better. Our prayers will continue until that time comes.
 
Ken great to hear an update and that you have taken out Dawn a few times. I'm sure that has to do wonders on the psychee being able to get out and about. I know its a tough call on the legal cousel thing but if you ever have any questions about practice or how you are being treated or billed let me know....I work for one! Keep chin up bud and we will continue to pull for you two and do what we can! Miss ya brother!!
 
Keep the faith my friend.....:) :)

You and Dawn are in our thought's and prayers....

Stefan....:coffee:
 
Ken I'm hopeing you get through this soon, let me know if there is anything I can do to help.

Bill.
 
Well... today is the last day of Dawn's IV antibiotics :rock: :rock: :rock:
She is much improved since the diagnosis of the infection...2 months ago (hard to believe its been that long).
She is moving much better, is driving again, and has a great attitude for the future. We owe it to all of you for all the support, prayer's, call's, PM's, cards, post's, and advice regarding this nightmare we have been through over the past 6 months. We will be forever grateful, and will NEVER forget the kindness and generosity that you have given us.

In regards to progress... the arm is getting better.. PT makes the arm ache pretty good, but pain is progress I guess:dontknow: and I am getting better range of motion in it.
Dawn on the other hand still has a pretty good bit of ground to cover yet. this next week we follow up with the Md's, and hope to get her into PT.
She still has a fair ammount of pain in her back, and I worry that it will be something she has to deal with for the rest of her life. I certainly hope PT can eliminate or reduce it to a tolerable level. She is on Dilaudid to manage her pain... so that should tell you where she is at to keep it in check.:banghead:
She certainly could not work an 8 hour day right now, and she may have to look into another avenue of nursing. We will have a better idea where she is at in another month.

Thank you everyone for the continued thought's and prayers.:rock:
 
That's AWESOME news Ken and Dawn!!!:rock::rock:

No more IV is a huge step forward!!!


So glad to hear that things are continuing to improve!

How's the funds? Do we need to shake the money tree again?!
 
Great news Ken.

And I haven't forgotten about you. I'm working today, and will be paying bills tomorrow so a check will be in the mail on Monday.

Take care.
 
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