Home Again

Just a quick update for now. It has been a long week and I have to get some sleep.

Judi came home today and is doing very well. One of the samples taken under the bone flap did finally grow out a "bug." It took almost a week before it surfaced so we have spent the last couple of days determining the best course of action to ensure the infection is cleared up once and for all. An interesting item is that the overall belief of the team is that the infection was there when the bone flap was inserted last year and just took a while to surface.

She will be on IV antibiotics for the next four weeks followed by eight weeks of an oral antibiotic. The IV schedule is a killer. One of the doses is at 2AM and it takes about an hour to go in which will make for some long nights for the next month. Hopefully we can get on a twice a day schedule vs. the current three a day schedule once the levels stabilize. Thanx to my sister -in-law (Karin) for stepping up and helping me with the 10AM dose. There is some issue with business licenses that prevent Judi's caretaker from administering the antibiotic.

Judi seems to be at about the same place mentally as she was before the surgery. I was really worried about this since she showed significant losses following the last surgery that took a long time to recover. She has been very tired and hopefully that is just a result of the entire hospital stay and not a longer term problem. She has been cleared to go back to outpatient rehab and we'll just have to watch her head like a hawk. Her Dr. did make a decision not to have her wear a helmet due to a concern with some edges of the skull having the potential to damage the skin if it was repeatedly rubbed. We will have to be very very careful.

I'll provide more detail and some addition info when I have more time. Just wanted to let everyone know she was home and doing well. Thanx for all the thoughts and prayers - we surely need them.

Steve