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.
