After considerable effort (thanks Kathy, Karen and Olivia), Pete was finally discharged from the hospital late Friday evening. So for the third time Pete left the hosipital and hopefully the final time as a patient. The next couple of weeks will be spent on some much needed rest and relaxtion on the boat!
Thank you again for all of your support and encouragement through this. We are hopeful that Pete will have recovered enough to start classes fall quarter to complete his nursing degree.
After spending one day on "the outside", we are back in the hospital today. Pete was readmitted this morning to treat a post-op infection. Right now we are looking at another week in the hospital and most likely a longer recovery time. The problem now is that Pete is healthy enough to be bored, but not healthy enough to leave the hospital.
After six days of riding the continual ups and downs of Pete's health status, it looks like we will be able to go home tomorrow. Well, not quite home but close to it. We will be staying at a local B & B for the next week to give Pete a little more time to heal before attempting the challenges of boat life. All in all our visit has been a very successful one, Pete has been put back together (surgeons are better than all the king's men) and has been able to catch up with some of his favorite caregivers. We are looking forward to our relaxing stay at the B & B and having a great big salad party once we get back to the dock. Thank you as always for all your love and support, we couldn't have made it through this experience without all of you!
We have had a busy second day in the hospital, after showing some concerning signs, the decision was made to move Pete from the floor to the Intermediate Care Unit (one step down from the ICU which we know so well). Right now he is stable and while he does have some concerning symptoms, they could just be post-operative stress.
Hopefully everything will be under control and Pete will be up for some visitors in the next couple of days. Thank you for your support!
Today started at 0400, as Pete had to change his ileostomy for one last time and take a special shower before his big surgery. As we were walking down the dock a sliver of the moon was still up and the sun nowhere to be seen. We checked into the hospital by 0600 and after running through the pre-op circuit with Pete, we said goodbye at the operating room doors just before 0800. After 6 nail-biting hours, his surgeon came out to inform us that Pete was out of a successful surgery! His ileostomy was reversed and his abdomen is once again closed. Tonight finds us back in a private room on 11 east and a somewhat disbeleiving, groggy Pete! Only time will tell, but a this point it looks like Pete will make a healthy recovery.
We can't thank everyone enough for all the encouragement and support we have received over the past six months. Thank you!
today marks six months since Pete first checked into the hospital and with a little luck tomorrow will begin the final chapter in Pete's road to recovery.
Tomorrow morning at 0600, Pete checks-in for pre-op for what we hope will be his final surgery! We will post updates as we know more . . .
During our stay at the Reichert's home for recovering invalids, Pete had some very specialized care including his own personal walking coach, baby Mazu! Jen and Marcus' soon to be one-year-old was just beginning to walk and actually took her first steps during our stay. When she threw down the gauntlet and kicked her walker aside, Pete took up the challenge! And again when she started out-pacing Pete in the stair-climbing category, he knew it was time to step it up! In addition to his lovely walking coach, Pete received some special care from her parents, Jen and Marcus, which sped Pete along the road to recovery.
Pete's dad, Larry, made the trip up from California and took charge of Pete's rehab, chauffeur and all-around cheerleader responsibilities.
After 49 days of incarceration, Pete was able to walk out of the hospital today on his own! He will be convalescing at the Reichert's long-term care facility under the watchful care of his personal rehabilitation specialist, Larry Jacobsen (otherwise known as Dad).
Thank you to everyone who made this day possible! We appreciate all your love and support more then you could possibly know!
As his release date gets nearer and nearer, Pete's cabin fever increases exponentially. At this point going home (to Jen and Marcus') is about all he talks about.
Monday came with some bad news, Pete has developed more blood clots in his legs which greatly increases his risk of developing a pulminary embolism (potentially fatal). Yesterday they increased his blood thinners and today they plan on placing an inferior vena cava or Greenfield filter to prevent any blood clots from blocking blood flow to his heart or lungs. If everthing goes well, Pete could be released from the hospital as early as this evening!
Sorry for not updating recently, plans have changed daily if not hourly and we just couldn't keep up. Rachelle is back to work full time. Pete was doing so well with rehab that as of Monday, he no longer qualified for acute rehab...so the remainder of the week was spent discussing Pete's options. His medical team felt Pete had enough issues that they weren't ready to discharge him quite yet.
On Thursday, we came to the decision that Pete was ready for his next operation. On Friday, they took donor skin from his thighs to place a skin graft over his abdomen. The surgery went well but Pete will remain in the hospital a little longer as they work on managing the pain from the donor sites. We're hopeful he will be able to come home in the next week, but until then Pete would love to have visitors!
For the third day in a row Pete's creatinine levels have declined without dialysis, this a very positive indication that his kidneys are heading for full recovery. At this point it looks as though Pete will not need anymore dialysis treatment!
As of today, Pete is scheduled for discharge to the acute rehab facility on Monday and if everything continues to go smoothly he will be able to move to our land-based home (thanks Jen & Marcus!) by mid-April. Pete will spend the next week rebuilding his strength and fine motor skills. Even once he is released from rehab, he will have quite a bit of work ahead of him before he is able to return to the boat. However, everything seems to be progressing well at this point.
I've been wanting to write a blog entry for a while, but usually by the time I get around to it, my nurses and therapists have completely wiped me out for the day. So today, I'm feeling up to it, and here I am.
First and foremost, I have to say thank you to you all for your constant care, thoughts and the help that many of you have given to Rachelle and I during this episode. I am truly touched by the vast outpouring of care and support that has been given us in many, many ways.
Secondly, we had some great news today. Apparently I was the high point of one of my doctor's day today (unfortunately for her it was at 8:30am), when she told me that my creatinine dropped since yesterday. This means that my kidneys are once again filtering at a high enough rate that I am likely done with dialysis.
YEAH!!!! says I!
I will still continue to be monitored in the hospital over the weekend to make sure there is no backsliding and that my electrolytes continue to normalize, but...this was a big boost to my morale and has considerably helped abate my growing cabin fever.
I really have enjoyed the many visits and please continue to come by and say hi. It's been really great to see so many of you.
Thanks again for all the help and support you've given us. It has been most helpful and is greatly appreciated.
Sometimes it feels less like two steps forward and one step back, and more like running an obstacle course. Pete has successfully navigated the course so far and with any luck we will be out of the hospital soon and on to the next lap. As of today, the plan is to discharge Pete from the hospital early next week and transfer him to the Cherry Hill Acute Rehab facility. If you want to visit Pete while he still has an awesome penthouse view, you better come soon!
After having a couple of days off of dialysis, Pete had to start off today with another dialysis session. We keep hoping that each session of dialysis will be his last . . . Pete's kidneys continue to improve, but they are not quite able to handle everything on their own yet.
Pete was able to walk all the way around his unit yesterday and completed several trips in his wheelchair (completely under his own power!). The highlight of the night was when Pete was able to go back down to the ICU and thank several of his nurses that cared for him through some of the darkest stretches of his journey. We are both so grateful for the excellent care he has received and it was really wonderful to pass some of that appreciation along!
We've updated the visitor sign-up and while it is not necessary to sign-up before visiting, it does give Pete an idea of what his day will look like and something to look forward to. Thank you for the support and encouragement!
Pete's kidneys continue to improve and at this point is down to dialysis every third day. We are hopeful he may be able to come off of dialysis completely by the end of the week.
More and more the focus of Pete's care is on his rehabilitation. He spent almost a month in bed and lost over 50 lbs and has had significant muscle atrophy. Pete has a lot of work ahead of him to rebuild muscle and fine motor skills. Currently, Pete is moving out of bed and sitting up in a chair for all of his meals and going for short walks two to three times a day (this morning he walked 200 feet!). This weekend we got a rare treat and Pete was able to move to a wheel chair and I was able to give a tour of our home for the past month.
Pete continues to enjoy all the visits, well wishes and all the food! Thank you!
