Wow!

Wow! The last two days Karl has improved a great deal and received more good news. We have God – and you through your prayers – to thank for that.

Yesterday during rounds, the ortho doctors stopped in and said Karl’s white blood count is continuing to go down, which means the antibiotics -- pepercillin and vancomycin – are doing their thing. They checked the skin graft on his back and said they were very happy with his progress. Dr. Hannah, his plastic surgeon, also seems very happy with Karl’s progress. Today he gave Karl fantastic news…Karl won’t have to wait 6-9 months to get on his feet! Wow! We’re assuming that’s because they didn’t use his fibula to reconstruct the sacrum, but we’re not sure. Regardless, it will be awhile before he’s on his feet…but at least it won’t be 6-9 months.

Karl’s appetite, while it isn’t voracious, is also continuing to improve. Today he was taken off the IV nutritional supplements. That means the only intravenous infusions he’s receiving are his antibiotics. Super progress!

The physical therapists finally arrived yesterday and they gave Karl an exhausting workout both yesterday and today. Their goal at this point is to get Karl to sit on the edge of his bed. It’s very painful for Karl for several reasons…first, his bed is very soft which makes it difficult to stay steady. Second, one of his abdominal muscles was used as the skin graft on his backside and he has staples, both front and back. Third, he has, as he calls it, the Eiffel Tower, holding his spine together. Fourth, he hasn’t sat up in almost three weeks. Today it was easier for him, but still painful. It will take some time. The therapists also fitted Karl with boots that will help him to eventually walk. To get him accustomed to them, the boots are put on his legs/feet for two hours and then taken off one hour.

Today the therapists started talking about rehabilitation facilities and whether Karl had a preference as to where he’d like to go. We inquired about Ann Arbor facilities and will be talking with our U-M physicians to see if they have a recommendation. But the fact that we had this conversation leads us to believe we need to start thinking about discharge. Wow! Karl will hopefully talk to his orthopedic surgeons at rounds tomorrow as to a possible discharge date and whether they will discharge him to a transitional care facility or a facility that specializes in physical and occupational therapy.

After yesterday’s physical therapy session, Karl was absolutely spent. The new reiki practitioner, Ann, had perfect timing. At 2 p.m. she came in -- after physical therapy. While her technique is different than Deb’s, the results were the same. He was relaxed and feeling good. Which reminds me…the other day I asked him if he was having pain. After a quick evaluation, he said he wasn’t having any pain. Wow!

We are blessed and we pray the same for you,

Kerry

P.S. My other brother’s birthday is today. He is 51. Kirk works with computers and knows some tricks that allow him to “fix” votes on the hat poll. There is NO WAY that many people voted for the John Deere hat, but we’ve been having quite a laugh over it. He told me people weren’t voting for the hat, but for the “fox” (a term he has used for years to describe himself in order to irritate me) in the picture with Karl. Yeah, right Kirk.

P.P.S. My next blog update will be Monday...I'm taking the weekend off!