2.19.11

AYNSLEY:
Mom's still at Overlake and will likely be there until Monday at least. In addition to the bacterial infection, she's also got yeast growing. None of the nurses are sure if it's okay for her to have probiotics, which I stocked up on before I left the last time and are waiting in the fridge at their house.

The origin of the infection still isn't clear, so she's still on a high powered non specific antibiotic. We do know that it's a gram negative rod bacteria that's causing the infection, which makes me feel slightly better that it's not staph. Having taken microbiology as an undergraduate, I'm terrified of hospital-grade staph infections. Though, really, any hospital-grade infection scares the crap out of me. I don't like this situation, even though it means that Dad's eating well, that everyone has less distance to travel, that the nursing care is a little more reactive and assertive. I don't like that her stay keeps getting extended and that the yeast infection is going on. I think I also don't like that all of this is going on and I'm not there. Tomorrow is two weeks since I've been home, which has been my max time away since the diagnosis. I'm trying to make it another week-I have lots of appointments that I really should keep if possible, but it's hard. I'm sure you're all tired of my "I'm so torn" refrain, but, yeah, I'm so torn.

The other thing that I really don't like is that her new surgically implanted IV line isn't working properly. It's supposed to allow blood to be drawn and IVs to go in. It's only working for things going in (like antibiotics, which is essential); blood can't be drawn out. But of course they need blood draws to assess the infection status. So Mom's getting a lot of needle sticks. I'm actually sort of furious about it: she had to have surgery to have it put in and it's malfunctioning. I really don't want her to have to go through any pain or discomfort that isn't absolutely necessary, and this seems like some sort of stupid f* up on someone's part and it's frustrating. They aren't going to fix it-another surgery is risky at this point in time and the hope is to reinsert the chest port if/when the infections clear up. So, needle sticks are in the cards for at least another few days.

On the bright side, Mom seems better. She's eating really well (the yeast isn't interfering too much with her swallow right now), she's napping a lot through out the day, she's getting excited about the wedding and what she's going to wear...her attitude is good. I think she knows that the infections are a serious set back and it's one more thing that she's putting her energy into beating. And as Gary loves to say, once Mom puts her mind to something, it's happening.