MaryAnn Status 4/29

Well we're moving ahead.  Today we continued  to push toget her moved to Lahey Clinic (Burlington, MA (north of Boston), which hopefully will take place tomorrow.  There are bureaucracies that have to be waded through in making things happen, but we see movement.  The MRI confirmed what we have suspected which is that the bone infection is getting worse.  Knowing that she will soon be seeing professionals that lead their field makes us feel better.  That being said we are grateful for the local doctors  - they worked hard and did the best they could and they are totally on board with her going to Lahey.

We did get some good news today that the C-peptide test that she recently had shows that her body is producing lots of insulin, so that once the infection is gone she should be able to be on oral medication or perhaps just on diet.

She continues to be of good cheer and is grateful for the phone calls.

I don't know exactly when we will be going up there.  I will endeavor to get an update out tomorrow.

MaryAnn Status 4/28

Today was just gathering data.  She had an MRI of the shoulder which is key to determining how the bone infection looks.  We had a discussion with the orthopedist on treatment options if the bone infection has gotten worse.  The technical term for a bone infection is Osteomyelitis and it doesn't always respond well to antibiotics.  Surgery may well be the only option and if it has to happen we will not have this done in Newport.  We are working through Susan Moran Mathieu to get her into the Lahey Clinic in the Boston area.  I know surgery doesn't sound great, but having a chronic infection is not good.  We should have a pretty good idea by the end of tomorrow as to what will be done.

MaryAnn Back in the Hospital 4/27

Two steps forward, one back.  After a bout with fever on Sunday afternoon and another one today we made a decision to bring her to the emergency room and they decided to admit her.  It is clearly a problem with the infection.  I am coming to realize that it is not an easy thing to get this right.  The last time she was in they put her on Vancomycin and that is what they have done this time.  Clearly they have to come up with an antibiotic that will work better for maintenance at home, otherwise she is going to be in the hospital every week.   Hopefully this will be a short stay and the third time will be the charm.  Prior to the fever she was doing really well.

MaryAnn Status Is Home

MaryAnn got home on Sunday and is doing well.  

MaryAnn Status 4/16

Things are going fairly well.  I need to correct what I said about what the orthopedist found.  The pus had accumulated since the first procedure.  He cleaned out the same area the first time and there was no accumulation there, so clearly there was a change for the worse this time.  The infection was definitely not in the shoulder joint.  The main work now is clearing up the infection.  They are referring to this now as a "wound infection" and are treating her with antibiotics Cefazolin and Vancomycin, which are specifically for that type of infection.  

She may have the followup shoulder surgery tomorrow to remove the packing material.  I'll report on that tomorrow.

MaryAnn Back in the Hospital

Well, here we are again doing something I hoped we wouldn't have to, but it looks like it's all good.  She had the shoulder surgery at about 5:00 this afternoon.  The procedure went well.  He found a pocket of pus that he had missed the first time that definitely was causing a good part of her shoulder problem.  She got back to her room at about 7:30 and had a good dinner. There are some good things that will come out of this.  The infection status will be evaluated and they will see if the antibiotic she is on is doing the job and also they are playing with her insulin dosage to see if she can get along with less.

The one down note after the surgery is that he put in some absorbent material in the cavity where the pus was found and he will have to go back in and remove that probably on Friday. As you know I'm terrible on predicting discharge dates, but I don't think it will be before Monday.

MaryAnn is Home

MaryAnn arrived home early this afternoon.  We both got a course in administering her IV antibiotics.  This could be going on for up to 30 days so we need to get into a routine.  She is pretty tired as you might guess, but very glad to be home.