Walking Spirit

Jeremy was taken about 12:00 today for surgery-it was a long one. Mom and Dad called around 7:00 to say that he was out. At last we had some decent news after surgery. The tissue in his leg loooked good so they were able to go ahead as planned. He now has a nail through his left femur. There was enough good skin left that they were able to close the wound nicely and they only had to graft about three to four inches of skin. The infectious disease team is fairly confident that the infection in his bloodstream is under control so they will be taking him off of his antibiotic as it has run it's course-then we'll see what happens. There has been an ultrasound ordered for a look at his right arm-apparently it is swollen at the IV site. The doctor said that there could be a blood clot there-or it might be cellulitis. I guess blod clots rarely travel from your arm to other parts of your body so they aren't overly concerned about that. If it is a blood clot it will be treated accordingly with a blood thinner and a medication (Cumidin?) for two months. If it is cellulitis he'll be put on an appropriate antibiotic. If all goes well the next few days he will be able to go to rehab soon.

Along those lines it is now even more important that Jeremy gets his rest and is not exposed to any infection. We would like to remind you that if you have a cold or have been around people who are sick to plan on visiting another time. Even though Jeremy is awake and alert please bear in mind that he is not always able to see visitors because of things the medical staff has to do with him and at times he doesn't want visitors because he gets so tired. It would be a good idea to check in with one of us or with Jeremy's nurse before you go into his room. We will check with him to see if he wants visitors and with his nurses to see if he is able to have visitors at that time.

Overall, it was a successful day. Mom and Dad will, of course, stay to see him when he gets back to his room so if there is more to report I'll be sure to post it.