August 20, 2012

Outside Temp: 64 F (it was 91 today, which is still annoying, but at least it wasn't mid-90s... every little degree counts)

What I cooked today:
Burgers and Tater Tots: I cooked, albeit not really exciting.  I couldn't really justify making something significant when it was just me and the kids (Patrick is at the hospital with Ryan).  And, we were out of cheese, which made for some really dry burgers.  But, it was food, and I cooked, and that's all that matters.

Update:
Ryan Day 3 in the hospital.

So, the lesson learned from today's excitement is that a Staph infection sucks.  Not to say that other infections don't suck, they do.  But a staph infection really sucks.

We made the executive decision, after consulting with Seattle, to pull his line out today.  A staph infection is nasty, and it was not only in the blood, but it was on the skin next to the line.  And it would be easy for the infection to attach to the tip of the line, or to travel down the line and lead to an infection in the heart.  And infections in the heart really, really suck.

So, since we've been having trouble with the line anyway, we decided to pull it out.  It was actually kind of terrifying how easily it pulled out.  We snipped the little stitch that our doctor put in last week, and it just slid right out.  They aren't supposed to come out that easily.

We have added another antibiotic, which should help to kill off the bug faster.  Ryan's fever has come down (although it spiked a little when we pulled the line, which is not surprising), but he's still really tired and doesn't have much energy. 

The plan (as of now, since we know how plans work around here), is to place a PICC line (which is an IV that is threaded up the arm, not as permanent as a central line, but it will work for a few weeks).  However, we can't place a line if we feel the infection is still active.  The docs will decide tomorrow if they want to wait a few more days.  Although there is a catch-22, in that the longer we wait, the longer we have sub-nutrition, which can cause a whole mess of problems.  But, if we place the PICC line too soon, we can get it infected, which would suck.  It's all a balancing act.

We are scheduled to go out to Seattle in mid-September, so the plan is to place a new central line when we go out there.  It's a relatively easy procedure, and it shouldn't require us to stay too long (only a day or 2).  Of course, that's assuming that we get a PICC line in, and we don't have any problems with it between now and then.  And, you all know how assuming works.

On the good side, the school board approved our plan to mentor the On-Line Web Design class for the high school this semester.  Patrick and I will both be mentoring the class, so we can switch off as other requirements come up (you know, like actual work).  I'm actually pretty excited, since I think that it's a great skill to have, and I hope the kids like it.  It's a college course, online, but they needed a warm body in the room, to help if the students have questions.  I think Patrick really wanted to do it just for the fast Internet.