8/1/05 7:48am
Not much news on the Jay front. She has not gone for the cardiac cath, and I have no idea when it may be scheduled. It turns out that she has/had a bacterial infection in her blood stream. It is e. coli. It is very bad to have and they have to clear up that infection before they can do the cath. They aren't sure how she got it, but I have a pretty good idea.

On Sunday, the 17th, at the hospital, they did the NG tube thing to her and gave her the GoLitely (1 gal), Jo,was at the room until about 3:30pm and they started to give her the stuff, well we girls went back at 6pm and she was sitting in poo! Literally, up to her boobs! Ya know the way the bed bends, well, the poo was about 1 inch deep in the bend. It was nasty.

Her IV was right there by the poo. I think that is where she got the infection. They moved her to another hospital in the Medical Center 2 days later and she started running a fever by Thurs. (I think). So the staff at the Med Center finally did some blood cultures (that was Monday, I think) as a guess to see what was causing the fever and low and behold, she has an e.coli infection.

So, an infectious disease MD was consulted. They have to clear her before they can do the cath. Since they know for sure they want to put in at least one stint, they have to wait. They said, if the blood has bacterial contamination, the stint will become infected and not do her any good. So we are in a holding pattern.

She is looking much better and not in so much pain. I believe she is on at least 2 antibiotics (IV) and that is making her feel better. I think it is also helping the ulcer in her foot. She isn't complaining near as much as she was about the pain. Either that or they are giving the pain meds on time, but I really think that maybe it is starting to heal.

They have her on 5 mg of Tapazole for her thyroid and I have never seen the endocrinologist. They have also put her on insulin. That seems to keep her diabetes in better control than taking the pills. They are giving it 2 times a day now. I really want to know what they are planning to do about the thyroid and the goiter.

Anna and Jo went to see her Saturday and she was very talkative and Joan called Aunt Rita and they (Rita and Jay) talked some. Yesterday, she was pretty sleepy. She woke up a few times and spoke to Anna and me, but then she kinda mumbled for us to leave. So we did. The nurse didn't have much to say to us, not too many MD's were there over the weekend, and she said that Jay wasn't on the schedule for the Cath on Monday. The nurse said the MD's were saying sometime this week. They said that last week too, then we found the blood infection.

Mom and Dad are pretty good. They had a pretty calm weekend. Jo took them and Liz and Aaron to see Matagasgar on Fri and she said it was a waste of money for M&D. They really didn't watch the movie at all. Oh well, at least they got out of the house for a few minutes and it wasn't to see a doctor.

It was very sad to see Jo leave. She was like a fixture in the house. It was pretty quiet without her. She really was a HUGE help to us this past month. Don't know what we would of done without her. Well, we will find out this week. It was great that she was here when Jay was in the hospital. I also had a bunch of doctors stuff for her to do while she was here.

With all the company coming and going, our dog Harley (the deaf one) was having issues. She seemed to be a little better last night. If she isn't better by the end of the week, I will get her to the vet. She has Obsessive/Compulsive disease and she behaves strangely. She will walk around in circles and bark at nothing all day. So we noticed that she does better if you give her a bone and then she will keep that in her mouth and settle down some. By the end of yesterday, she was not needing the bone so much and was laying in bed with Jerry and I and resting.

Well, that's about it for this am. I will go see Jay soon and if there is anything else, I will let you know.

Love and hugs, Mary