Home again, home again, jiggetyjig

"There's no place like home, there's no place like home." ~Dorothy

Dad came home again yesterday in the late afternoon!

Huge sigh of relief - so good to be out of that sterile, frustrating hospital scene.
It's funny that I titled this with "Jiggety Jig" because I see I did the same the last time I posted about his return from the hospital.... the reason for that, I guess, is because whenever we would return from vacations or other day excursions that involved an extended time away from home, Dad would always say that as we pulled into the drive -- and, to this day, I still hear it in my head. :-)

Here is a letter he wrote and sent via email yesterday - many of you may have seen it already, but it seems as if it should be here for posterity (whatever that means)...

Dick’s health status, 11-17-12

I returned home from the hospital yet again today from a 6 day stay recovering from pneumonia.  This was the 4^th stay in hospitals in the last 4 months based on a continuing bout with pneumonia.

I insisted this visit we find the underlying cause of continued infection and sought the help of the head hospital Doctor, the infectious disease doctors, my Churg-Strauss doctor and others as required.  They ran more blood and sputum cultures, took more x-rays and CT scans and tried isolating and killing the unique strain of resistant pseudomonas that is probably causing the problem.  We’re not certain the problem is fixed but I am feeling much better than a week ago.  

The plan now is a continuing treatment of cefepine (antibiotic), an IV administered at home for several more days followed by another antibiotic by mouth for several weeks to see if we can kill the bad guys that cause the pneumonia to continue to return.  Two problems are cause for concern in this or any treatment plan.. my Churg-Strauss has left “pockets or small craters” in my lungs trapping the infection and making it harder to kill .. and my continued use of prednisone (steroid) which lowers my immune system and resistance to infection. 

There are no easy answers here .. and we are in the area of trial and error .. however, I continue to beat the odds each time I return from the hospital.  On the morning before this visit I was very weak and fell on the way to the bathroom .. hitting my lower back and now I’m in pain from that event as well.  It’s a bitch getting old!!

Carol has been at my side throughout these hospital trips .. in fact, she has been the key decision maker  in calling 911 and getting me treatment even as I resisted another trip to the hospital.  Both of us wish all of this would go away.

Thanks you all for your support, prayers, ideas and calls.  They mean a lot to us as we go though these health issues.

Dick