Oh Sunny Day: FW: Jer's Foot Update: Keeping up

WEDNESDAY morning: Feb 16th: Jer did well over the weekend with the new pain med. it is keeping the pain at a manageable level. his pain increases when he gets up and "walks around" and of course the longer he is up the worse it starts to throb. a trip to the bathroom and back to the chair is enough to fatigue him to the point of utter exhaustion, however, each day he seems to be able to tolerate a tad more activity. the kids spent the night saturday at grandma diane's, and sunday morning went to the farm for snowmobile rides, which of course they loved. i cleaned the house to sheer perfection for the two showings on sunday, and neither party will be making an offer. oh phooey. sunday we had an impromptu birthday party for isabelle, since we never had her big birthday party with the family due to OTHER emergencies. we pulled together great decorations, i made a cake, auntie lynn brought the big gifts from the group and picked up great grammy violet, and grandma diane somehow pulled off enough food for everyone to have a meal. it lasted 3 hours and jer was able to come. sunday night jer was pretty pooped from such an exciting event. MONDAY brought our weekly doc appointment in which they unwrapped the foot. things are looking good, however, there was some mention of a possible need for skin grafts on the areas of the foot that developed the blood blisters. as they heal the areas are turning black which indicates dead tissue. doc said we would know in a few weeks if the tissue will be healthy and scab over, or just slough off. oy vey! pictures are available at your request. i am finally getting back to work after 2 weeks of chaos at home, and jer's brother, dennis, is coming over when i'm gone to sit with jeremy, and as the case may be, any sick child that seems to turn up. carter had a low grade fever over the weekend, and into monday, and didnt want to go to school. his throat was also very swollen so he stayed home with the boys (uncle dennis and daddy). tuesday morning brought even more concern so the boys took carter to the doc: another antibiotic. he is being treated for strep throat again. after a long day at work tuesday (almost 11 hours) and running a few errands for the husband, i finally get home just after 7pm....and the doorbell rings. a nicely dressed gentleman says "um, are you aware you have a showing tonight?" WWWHHHAAAATTTTTTTT????????????????????? apparently i was not included in any discussions of the sort. the nice gentleman said it was up to us, but he could buy us 15 minutes to straighten up the house. okay, her we go. set the timer and everyone (belle, carter, mommy, daddy, uncle dennis) CLEAN! i have to say i was quite impressed that we pulled off such a nice looking house in 15 minutes! :) and we went to dairy queen for ice cream. i wonder what is in store for us today?

Friday morning, Feb 11th: two different parties are looking at the house on sunday, and there is a third party interested and may look monday. time to get cleaning again. the hardest part about showing the house is that everything has to be put away and out of sight. the last showing was with our own realtor and she mentioned that there were 3 baskets of folded clothes tucked away on the far side of the bed in the master bedroom, adn could we not have that for next time. UGH. its like turning this house that a family lives in into an unlived "staged" looking home. HELLO!!! this is not the Ashley Furniture Home Store here!!!! jer now has an electronic cigarette. this thing is incredible! he can smoke it in the house and no smell! no smoke! its all water vapor! no tobacco, just nicotine and a water vapor that makes it feel like a real cigarette. sure beats him getting up to go outside right now. he seriously gets out of his chair maybe 3-5 times a day. what a world of technology we live in. it is still a fairly new product and there may be some pros and cons, but for jer right now it definitely makes his world a whole lot better and that's okay with me. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_cigarette yesterday i went to the DMV and got jer a handicap parking sign for the car. he can use it till May 2011. this will make clinic visits and things of the like so much easier for both he and i. the new pain med seems to be keeping him happy, although, he has been sleeping since he's been taking it yesterday. he wakes up and falls back to sleep. he hasnt been able to rest for so long and i'm sure he's exhausted from all the pain and running around we've done this week so i'm sure his drowsiness is a combination of the medicine and sleep deprivation. i'm keeping a close eye on him and checking the toes frequently for circulation. i hope today will finally be a quiet peaceful day.

Thursday Feb 10th?!?!? its the 10th of FEBRUARY??? where have i been?: last post i forgot to mention that cast #7 is a half cast, also called soft cast, also called splint cast, and today marks cast #8 which is the same as #7. jer just barely made it by the hair on his chinney-chin-chin through the night last night. he kept himself stable with a bit of this med, that med, and that other old pain med knowing that if we could just get through the night we'd see the doc in the morning. and that is what we did. on the way to the onalaska clinic this morning jer told me hurry up and just (insert swear word here) get there because something was wrong and he felt soo soo very horrible. we got there and things got better after they opened up the cast and let him sit for a while. the nurses and the doc and i and jer all had a nice long conversation about expectations, limits, anxieties, and we all came to an agreement: if the drugs the doc gave us today wasnt enough at home, we needed to just be admitted to hospital. the foot looked OKAY. there's more swelling in one area of the foot that concerns him slightly, BUT, as long as i was checking his toes on a regular basis for a number of things, we could be okay at home. we left with a really satisfied feeling. finally we got to see the doc, and he truly understood what all of our concerns were and really put us at ease with his plan. he also let us know that if at any given time we wanted to go to the hospital, he would admit us in a heartbeat. jer just has this strong desire to be comfortable and at home if at all possible. earlier there was this feeling to me that everything was just getting out of hand and it was more than i could deal with at home, but i believe we will be okay for the next 12-24 hours. after that? i'll keep you posted since things change around her so fast! i've forgot to mention that isabelle hurt her foot. she was hanging from the door handle when the door was swinging shut and get caught her foot under the door. she complains about her foot daily and sometimes hobbles around like daddy. she's 4, but she's not faking this one that's for sure! my poor babies. i have to add that jer's toes are HUGE and black and blue. i told him that if it were halloween and i went to the store looking for a dead amputated foot to carry around with me, i think i'd find something very similar to his own. haha

Wednesday Feb 9: 3 hours post-op was great, but not so great anymore!!! the morning starts out with jer's pain meds not keeping up after taking all the doses he can....then he's talking about swelling, then its hurting more. after many calls (again) in to the Podiatry department regarding pain and swelling and no resolve, we call and TELL them we are coming in. would they like us to come to clinic or ER? clinic it is. they cut off the cast and let him sit for a good hour before someone can see him. apparently his doc was in onalaska, and the residents were in surgeries. finally we get residents to look, then call the doc, then look, then call the doc and the solution??? in my opinion a pretty crappy one. see, i couldnt stand seeing jer's post-op foot elevated up in the air (and in my face) while he huffed and puffed and grunted in pain. between the sight of his foot and the sounds of him being in so much pain i couldnt bare to sit in the room with him. i broke down and waited in the hallway, so i'm not sure of the conversations jer had with the residents. AND i wasnt there to say THAT IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH. Jer tells me there was talk of being admitted to hospital for pain control and possible concern for compartment syndrome again. (compartment syndrome is most common 24-48 hours after the initial injury or a surgery i'm being told). jer doesnt want to be in the hospital again, so he settles on what he thinks is better (but not great) pain meds, and a plan that if this doesnt cut it through the day and into the night, we need to see the doc in clinic tomorrow. they will fit us in without an appointment. <sigh, duh. to me wouldnt we want to be avoiding the need to see the doc again the very next day?> and, instead of another hard cast, they give him a soft cast: cast on bottom of foot and heal, and up the back of the leg, but only wrap and soft padding on the top so there is less pressure when it swells. the bad side to this cast is that the wound is not very well protected from bumps and taps and we have 2 small animals and one dog in the house. i get all this information in the car after jer says we are going home and he will tell me later what was all said in the room. i pray to GOD that things get under control because i DO NOT want to be running to the doc, or the clinic, or the ER, or being in and out of surgeries and hospitals any more!!!!! Jer is now resting, or trying to at least. we are back home just waiting for whatever is going to be next. oh, they want to show the house saturday at 2:30. cha right!

Tuesday Feb 8: As Surgery Day comes to an end, we are thankful that the surgery went quick, the recovery was a breeze, and jer is acting as if nothing ever happened. currently he and the kids are in the chair reading bedtime stories. they took him back around 3, and we got home just before 7pm. it would have been nice if everything was on schedule, but jer got a good nap out of the whole deal. he was shocked when he woke up and didnt have any underwear on, and cast #6 is white with a touch of iodine and dried blood. 4 screws, and yes, a plate, and i'm told some wires inbetween. i didnt get a chance to talk to the doc since he was SOOO far behind on his surgeries, and he will call to talk in the morning. jer's pain is the same if not better than before, and the nerve block that was to numb his leg for up to 18 hours didnt take. bummer for him, but he's doing just fine. thanks for all the prayers, so glad to be home and on the road to recovery.

we were told to be at the hospital at 10:30am, and so we were..... its now 3pm and they JUST took jer back to surgery. apparently the doc is a few hours behind. now we wait....

Foot Doc says surgery is a "go" for tomorrow, tuesday. it will take about one hour, and he'll decide what he's doing when he gets in there and checks things out. Screws are a definite, plates are a maybe. after surgery jer see's the doc on a weekly basis for quite some time. doc said jer will not be working for at least 4 weeks after, and will evaluate if he can go back to work on a light duty "administrative" only basis after that. cast #5: a very kelly green. we wait now for the nurse to call us and let us know what time to be there in the morning. Jer's brother, dennis, will take jer to surgery. i will stay home to get the kids off to school and such, then come home to clean the house quick before more new people check it out at 12:30. grrrrr. hopefully we'll be back home mid afternoon resting peacefully. after that its back to work for me, and dennis is on duty for the next 3 weeks. YAY for dennis because i am quickly running out of favors! ;) more tomorrow

Friday Feb 4: Belle spent the rest of the day thursday with a fever. she went to bed with a fever, and, she woke up WITHOUT a fever! She is coughing more than before and is very tired and content to lay in mommy's bed watching Barbie movies all day long as long as i slip in a dora and 101 dalmations at least once in the rotation. carter is happy and off to school. Jer's doc appt today went okay. they cut off the cast, evaluated, and re-casted. he still has too much swelling for surgery, and the blisters are blood blisters and still very much THERE. plus, the tissue under the skin is too bruised up to cut through. the incision would not heal properly if the tissue is as damaged as jer's is. AND there is more risk for infection by cutting into this kind of wound. he currently has 2 semi-numb toes, but they havent fallen off yet or appear to be shriveling so they arent too concerned. (j/k) it is true about the numb toes though. ;) the plan: elevate-elevate-ELEVATE-ELEVATE!!!! and ice and stay in the chair!!!!! go back to see doc on monday. "SURGERY" days are always tuesdays, so whenever, if ever, jer gets his surgery, it will most likely be on a tuesday. we would love to see the doc monday and have him say everything is a go and to come back in the morning for surgery, but i have a sinking feeling it wont happen so soon. i'll bet we have a 50/50 shot at surgery being this tuesday. on a side note: jer is on his 4th cast. the podiatry department staff are SOOO much nicer about the casts than the ER or the hospital staff. they even offer colors, or a variety if you choose! and, the video games are just as annoying as i guessed they would be. jer doesnt listen to anything or anyone when they speak cause he's busy. i think the marching band could come through the house and he wouldnt notice, as long as they didnt walk in front of the tv. and he talks to the tv, hollers and moans and the swearing! OH the swearing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ps: still no bee sting. this must be a good sign. ;)

Jer's Foot Update Friday FEB 4

VIEW SLIDE SHOW	DOWNLOAD ALL
ADD MORE PHOTOS

This online album has 20 photos and will be available on SkyDrive until 05/05/2011.

Share your own slide shows with Hotmail

Thursday 3:51pm Feb 3 Belle wakes up with fever. She stays home sick with mom and of course, dad. carter goes to school. run some errands including stopping at furniture store which results in impulse buy of recliner. they deliver it 2 hours later. neighbor comes over to chat. jer and belle take naps. mommy takes deep breaths realtor calls with monday appointment from noon to 1pm. tomorrow: doc appointment with jer, and belle too if she STILL has a fever (per 24 hour nurse advisor). --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thursday 12:08am Feb 3: Carter stayed home sick again and was daddy's helper while i went grocery shopping. Pretty uneventful day UNTIL 8pm when belle spiked a 102.5 fever and said her ear hurts. NO JOKE. I'm thinking ear infection??? i called all my pharmacist friends and they all agree that the antibiotics she is on right now should have her covered for strep throat. I gave her tylenol at 8pm and her fever came down, but 4 hours later she is burning up again. gave more tylenol and hope its gone in the morning. looks like i'll be home again with another sick child -- cant go to daycare with a fever!!!! and to think that i was planning to go to work. just watch, tonight i'll somehow get stung by a bee. nothing is impossible here anymore.

Wednesday Feb 2: Monday night Carter spiked a fever of 101.7 and began to throw up. Saw the doc tuesday morning since i suspected he may have strep throat. his teacher had been out sick with strep throat and an ear infection last week. sure enough, carter is positive. daddy has smashed foot. belle has walking pneumonia. carter has strep throat. mommy is a one man band hoping someday i will may return to work, but no time soon. while carter and i are at the doc's office, jer is sitting at his brothers apartment since the people who looked at the house on monday loved it so much they wanted to come back at noon. so, now carter and jer are at the apartment, i'm at the pharmacy getting yet another antibiotic when jer calls my cell and tells me one of his toes is numb. this is one of the things that they warned us about when jer was discharged from the hospital. so, we start calling nurses and docs and begin preparing for jer to go back in to ER. finally we can go back home, and the docs call us back with a check list of things to look for. jer passes the test so we dont need to be seen. whew. later the realtor calls and says the people love the house, they will think for a few days and let us know. meanwhile, can someone else look at teh house on sunday? um, that's a tough one.......i'm gonna have to FOR THE FIRST TIME say NO!!!!!!! sunday does not work for us. many of you have asked about the house being for sale. here is the scoop: jer took a management position at kwik trip which is a good thing. he's not on the road all day driving his semi, and he would not have to work 50-60+ hours a week. BUT there was a huge cut in pay. we decided he would like to move up in the company so this was the direction we wanted to take. we realized that with money getting tight we would have to sell the house, which we have come to terms with and accepted. our plan it to move to Grandma Diane's downstairs apartment in La Crescent for a while once the house sells. its a tad smaller, but we can always minimize our belongings. Jer's company met with him when he was in the hospital and they agreed that when jer comes back to work, the warehouse was not the best place for him. instead, he will be a dispatcher which is a desk job, and jer will get some good experience in that department under his belt which is beneficial in the long run for him moving into another management position. jer is less than excited to dispatch, but realizes the benefits in the end. not sure what that pays, or what the hours will be. another hurdle to jump down the road i guess. well, i cant wait to see what today will bring.......imagine the possibilities! ps, we are looking for a recliner. if anyone has an extra we could borrow for a while jer would be greatly appreciative! pps, i am looking for people to sit with jer from time to time so i can go back to work. he just needs help with pills, ice, pillows, meals, drinks, and fetching whatever else he needs like phone books, changing movies in dvd player, etc. jer says he's fine to be home alone, but i dont trust him as i am already yelling at him to stay seated quite a bit on a daily basis. if he doesnt keep his foot up he wont have surgery on tuesday!!! -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Monday Jan 31st: day starts out with making belle an appt to see the doc for coughing and wheezing. i've been thinking maybe she's developing asthma since she's been wheezing on and off for a few months. next carter gives me all kinds of trouble about getting dressed and going to school. i give in since i have other battles to win at the moment. call carter in sick. friend teri comes over to help out with morning stuff and kids, since i have to clean the house so that the realtors can show it by 12:30. teri leaves, i break down, call mom and beg her to come over. clean clean clean. take belle to appt. chest xray = walking pneumonia. FOR REAL?!@????!?!?!?! go up to hospital to see jer for quick visit. go to pharmacy to get antibiotics for belle. they go to grandmas in la crescent. finally the doc shows up to look at jer's foot. take bandages off and.....he has injury related blisters on the top of his foot. this means no surgery till blisters are gone. pain and swelling are under control. discharge home. go back to pharmacy for jer's pain meds. get jer home, find a welcome home gift from his family: Playstation (video games) this will DEFINITELY keep him in his chair longer and deter him from getting up too much, i am convinced. THANK YOU! get call from realtor: buyers are very interested, can they come back tomorrow? .....sure, but the house now comes with a grown man in a cast sitting on the couch. no problem they say. task for tonight: pick up kids, feed jer, keep him happy in his chair, keep house picked up, get a little sleep. maybe get a shower. start all over tomorrow. next doc appts are Friday, and Monday, and **IF** everything looks good, surgery Tuesday next week. will keep everyone posted. visitors are welcome, jer likes to talk ;) and his huge cast is worth seeing! Haha.

Sunday Afternoon:

real quick: jer's pain has improved considerably. he is tolerating small doses of pain meds very well. the swelling has come down significantly. sunday @ 3pm we decided jer would stay in hospital. he can have surgery tuesday provided he keeps the swelling down. we're afraid if he comes home he wont get the bed rest he's getting in the hospital and he will swell. i made a deal with the doc that if he stayed another night they had to let hem get wheeled out to have a smoke. LOL crazy, i know. BUT if it keeps jer off his foot and gets this surgery over with sooner we are all for it. he may or may not even come home before tuesday. one day at a time.

Saturday Evening:

thanks for the emails everyone. they cleared him **most likely** for surgery tonight, which means he got to eat. he was goin on 24+ hours of no sleep and 12+ hours of no food or drink. thank goodness he is all juiced up on morphine so he cant complain too much without getting confused mid sentence. Hahaha. and he's getting some anxiety meds since he cant smoke, chew nicotine gum, or anything of the sort as it constricts blood flow to the capillaries. perhaps i will get a non-smoking hubby out of this whole ordeal??? he says he's thinking about it... still in excruciating pain. if pain is still an issue tomorrow, regardless of his swelling they may keep him again, and the potential for surgery tomorrow is back on the table. we will see The Foot Man again in the morning and will know more. Kids are spending the night at a good friends house having a blast i'm sure. i'm staying at the hospital with jer tonight as long as i can possibly stand it. i may end up back home at 3am if i cant sleep.

Saturday Afternoon:

jeremy, who never complains of pain, was maxed out on his pain meds and couldn't stand it any longer. back to the ER we went. they cut the cast off, noticed more swelling, gave IV pain meds, did CT scan of his foot, and called in the foot guy to come take a look. because of the amount of swelling, they are concerned about blood flow to the other parts and tissues in the foot. if blood flow is restricted by swelling, there is concern for the health of these tissues, hence, a worse outcome for recovery. he was admitted to the hospital, with a morphine drip (which is only helping a tiny bit), and is being watched very closely every hour. if swelling doesn't stop, they will need to do surgery tonight to relieve pressure. if this happens, they wont be able to close him back up because of said swelling. if swelling stops, he will have surgery anywhere between tuesday and friday next week. no work for a very long time. no driving. no walking cast till 10 weeks out from surgery date. he will need a few pins and a plate to put the bones back where they should be. will keep you posted as things go along. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Saturday Morning: Jan 29 2011 Jeremy vistited the ER this morning around 4am. He smashed his foot at work in between a moving forklift and a wall. He has a closed fracture of a metatarsal bone (one of the 5 long bones running thru the foot to the toe) and the bones at the break are about an inch apart. He also broke one of the middle toes. He is home now, with pain meds, crutches, and a temprorary splint/cast. Serious bed rest, elevation of the foot, and a recheck on Monday to assess the foot after all the swelling has gone down is in our near future. After that, there is talk of pins and plates and a surgery to put it all back in place. It will be at least 8 to 9 weeks before he gets a walking cast, but he is confident he will be able to return to work on light duty fairly soon. He is off now till Wed night (he's working night shift recently) as part of his normal schedule; what a great weekend for him! I finaly have the 3rd child I've longed for. Not quite how I pictured it! Hahahahah!