Howdy Y'all! I think I have finally figured out this blogging thing- way past my bedtime =) I just wanted to post a quick "Howdy!" from Texas. The kiddos are finally asleep (for the most part) and Roger is watching sports of some kind (those darned Mavs didn't make it as far as we'd hoped!!!!) so I am enjoying the computer to myself for a minute...
We've been watching the latest version of "Deadliest Catch" (the boys' favorite show), and it reminds me of my Alaskan relatives =) We are enjoying the blog site. The pictures and stories are great-- It's like one giant family scrapbook! With everyone so far away, it helps us keep "in the know". I'll post pics of the kids (when I figure that out) and I'm sure you'll be hearing from the rest of my "Clan" in the future.
Until next time...
Chris and the Southern Folk =) =) =)
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Dad is back home
Hello Everyone,
I just wanted to let you all know that Dad has been released from the hospital, as of yesterday. He went through the bone marrow sampling at Providence Hospital, which he said went smoothly and was surprisingly pain-free. They drilled a little hole in the bone of his hip and drew out 4 or 5 cc's of marrow fluid. They will be testing it over the next five days, so he won't have any new information until then.
When I talked with him on the phone today he was sitting in the sun on the front porch taking his ease and enjoying being back at home. He was minding his own business - trying to figure out how to entertain himself without being able to read, watch TV, or walk very far - when Chad arrived with a surprise visitor. At first Dad thought it was me but quickly discovered that it was Alfred! He decided to pay a visit for the weekend and surprise everyone, including Adrian, who still doesn't know yet (unless he reads this blog) that he is in town. Alfred is also here to renew his electrician's license in Alaska so that one day he might be able to move back.
And Adrian and I and our families will be heading off to Homer this weekend. It is Shorebird Festival weekend and the first chance we have had to get out of town to see how the cabin fared over the winter. Susan and I are definitely excited it but my kids, particularly my daughter, would rather eat worms and die. Oh well. One day I hope she feels differently. Both of my kids have been under the academic gun these past few weeks as the school year draws to a close at the end of next week. They are a little on the testy side.
I will post some pictures of Dad, Alfred, and Homer later on.
Love,
Jed
I just wanted to let you all know that Dad has been released from the hospital, as of yesterday. He went through the bone marrow sampling at Providence Hospital, which he said went smoothly and was surprisingly pain-free. They drilled a little hole in the bone of his hip and drew out 4 or 5 cc's of marrow fluid. They will be testing it over the next five days, so he won't have any new information until then.
When I talked with him on the phone today he was sitting in the sun on the front porch taking his ease and enjoying being back at home. He was minding his own business - trying to figure out how to entertain himself without being able to read, watch TV, or walk very far - when Chad arrived with a surprise visitor. At first Dad thought it was me but quickly discovered that it was Alfred! He decided to pay a visit for the weekend and surprise everyone, including Adrian, who still doesn't know yet (unless he reads this blog) that he is in town. Alfred is also here to renew his electrician's license in Alaska so that one day he might be able to move back.
And Adrian and I and our families will be heading off to Homer this weekend. It is Shorebird Festival weekend and the first chance we have had to get out of town to see how the cabin fared over the winter. Susan and I are definitely excited it but my kids, particularly my daughter, would rather eat worms and die. Oh well. One day I hope she feels differently. Both of my kids have been under the academic gun these past few weeks as the school year draws to a close at the end of next week. They are a little on the testy side.
I will post some pictures of Dad, Alfred, and Homer later on.
Love,
Jed
Sunday, May 06, 2007
Dad's hospitalization, update #3
Hello One and All,
I paid a visit to Grandpa at Providence Hospital today. He is doing well, in spite of the evidence to the contrary. Up until this past Friday he had been recuperating at home from the last hospitalization at Elmendorf hospital. He had been receiving home treatment by the visiting nurse who, once again, became concerned with the condition of his eye and his overall health. He was admitted to Providence because the urgency and the fact that his doctors at Elmendorf would not be available until Monday. Here is the latest installment of gruesome photos. Double-click on them for excruciating detail.
It may not be obvious, but even though his eye looks gross it is actually healing relatively well; especially considering the class of bug that got to him. And in that matter I have a little more information for you all.
The doctor in charge of him at Providence specializes in treating infectious diseases. He said that he had been infected with two bugs: serratia, and Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA), otherwise known as staph infection. The first is actually a secondary infection that sometimes happens to patients treated in hospitals. The second is the more serious of the two, and it what he is receiving antibiotics for. It is the bacteria that his foot was being treated for and that may be the source of the infection in his eye. Here is a link to more information about MRSA Infection at the Mayo Clinic's website. It is treatable, but is highly resistant to all but the most effective of antibiotics. The danger is, as I mentioned in my earlier posting, that his diabetic condition makes it very risky to treat him with such a potent drug and his blood sugar level must be carefully watched. He is getting tired of being poked for blood.
The doctor also suspects a more subtle underlying condition for his frequent infection is that his bone marrow is not working properly to manufacture white blood cells. He said this may have been the case as far back as two years ago though they have they have not yet made any conclusion about it. It would, however, explain why he has been so susceptible to infections and so knocked for a loop when they occur.
Here are a couple shots of his foot and legs. This infection is definitely healing and is a very positive sign of recovery.
Please be reassured though that Dad seems to be doing well and is recovering, albeit slowly. Personally I would feel much better about having him receiving treatment at home than being in the hospital with so much other bacteria floating around. Even under the best of circumstances at home his antibiotic regimen will need to continue perhaps as long as six months. It is one persistent bug.
In other news, my daughter went to the prom with her boyfriend Brian. Here is a picture of the two of them:
She is, needless to say, growing more beautiful every day. I am proud of her but am far from ready to let her go.
And finally, for those of you who want more information on how to post pictures, I would be glad to help you out with specific tips by phone. Many modern digital cameras have the capability of taking huge poster-size pictures, which aren't easily viewable in a browser on a monitor. In general you can prepare your photos ahead of time by setting your camera's pixel size to "VGA", or no more than 1 m in size. If you double-click on Dad's photos above you will see the VGA size displayed on your computer screen. The photo of Brian and Megan is saved in a size of 1280 x 720 pixels.
When you are ready to upload the photo it will load into your post at the top of the edit window. Scroll up, cut it to the clipboard, then scroll down to where you want paste it. Right click and paste. It may seem tricky at first but practice it a little and you will get the hang of it. Call me if you want more detail than that.
I am glad to see the posts of the kids. Keep em coming!
Love,
Jed
I paid a visit to Grandpa at Providence Hospital today. He is doing well, in spite of the evidence to the contrary. Up until this past Friday he had been recuperating at home from the last hospitalization at Elmendorf hospital. He had been receiving home treatment by the visiting nurse who, once again, became concerned with the condition of his eye and his overall health. He was admitted to Providence because the urgency and the fact that his doctors at Elmendorf would not be available until Monday. Here is the latest installment of gruesome photos. Double-click on them for excruciating detail.
It may not be obvious, but even though his eye looks gross it is actually healing relatively well; especially considering the class of bug that got to him. And in that matter I have a little more information for you all.
The doctor in charge of him at Providence specializes in treating infectious diseases. He said that he had been infected with two bugs: serratia, and Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA), otherwise known as staph infection. The first is actually a secondary infection that sometimes happens to patients treated in hospitals. The second is the more serious of the two, and it what he is receiving antibiotics for. It is the bacteria that his foot was being treated for and that may be the source of the infection in his eye. Here is a link to more information about MRSA Infection at the Mayo Clinic's website. It is treatable, but is highly resistant to all but the most effective of antibiotics. The danger is, as I mentioned in my earlier posting, that his diabetic condition makes it very risky to treat him with such a potent drug and his blood sugar level must be carefully watched. He is getting tired of being poked for blood.
The doctor also suspects a more subtle underlying condition for his frequent infection is that his bone marrow is not working properly to manufacture white blood cells. He said this may have been the case as far back as two years ago though they have they have not yet made any conclusion about it. It would, however, explain why he has been so susceptible to infections and so knocked for a loop when they occur.
Here are a couple shots of his foot and legs. This infection is definitely healing and is a very positive sign of recovery.
Please be reassured though that Dad seems to be doing well and is recovering, albeit slowly. Personally I would feel much better about having him receiving treatment at home than being in the hospital with so much other bacteria floating around. Even under the best of circumstances at home his antibiotic regimen will need to continue perhaps as long as six months. It is one persistent bug.
In other news, my daughter went to the prom with her boyfriend Brian. Here is a picture of the two of them:
She is, needless to say, growing more beautiful every day. I am proud of her but am far from ready to let her go.And finally, for those of you who want more information on how to post pictures, I would be glad to help you out with specific tips by phone. Many modern digital cameras have the capability of taking huge poster-size pictures, which aren't easily viewable in a browser on a monitor. In general you can prepare your photos ahead of time by setting your camera's pixel size to "VGA", or no more than 1 m in size. If you double-click on Dad's photos above you will see the VGA size displayed on your computer screen. The photo of Brian and Megan is saved in a size of 1280 x 720 pixels.
When you are ready to upload the photo it will load into your post at the top of the edit window. Scroll up, cut it to the clipboard, then scroll down to where you want paste it. Right click and paste. It may seem tricky at first but practice it a little and you will get the hang of it. Call me if you want more detail than that.
I am glad to see the posts of the kids. Keep em coming!
Love,
Jed