Marc's Stuff

Yesterday everything went much better. The visit with Lisa and John went really real, (Lisa said she would also post something about it on their blogg "Fun with three kids". They removed one of the medicines that they where giving Christy and when they did that the nausea issue went away and. As of this writing she had gong over 36 hours with out taking an medicine for it, but she is still taking the pain medicines. Once they did that, the food that Christy ate stayed down allot better. This included some Famous Dave's BBQ that was brought in by my Dad and Stepmother. Christy ate a healthy portion of that and didn't have any problems.
Between the visits, and finding a cause for the nausea issues it was a real good weekend for her, and her spirits have come up along way. The only downside of everything was last night when we noticed that the wound vac wasn't covering everything that it needed do, which resulted in some leakage of the wound, but we think that's just a minor bump in the road. Today that is going to get addressed with the doc and nurses that take care of the VAC. Also, on the good news side, the wheelchair people are coming out to fix the good wheelchair today. Hopefully, this will get done (In the past this as been a crap shoot) and I'll get it out to the hospital today, so they get Christy to sit up, and move around a little bit. I already told her , if she is in the chair long enough to go outside, I would bring the dogs by for a visit..:) Keep your fingers crossed.

Posted by Marc at 09:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The wound vac seems to be doing it's job, but yesterday Christy had an issue with nausea and pain again, which included tasting part of her dinner twice :(. She has been sleeping on and of most of the time, but with her being in the hospital that is somewhat normal. Mentally she is feeling a little better last night. We did have some unexpected visitors from that big city west of us that went a long way with helping bringing her spirits up. Our friends from Chicago, John and Lisa, brought their family with them that lifted Christy's spirits allot!!

Posted by Marc at 09:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Pictured above:

The USS William Jefferson Clinton (CVS1) set sail today from its home port of Vancouver , BC.

The ship is the first of its kind in the Navy and is a standing legacy to President Bill Clinton “for his foresight in military budget cuts” and his conduct while president. The ship is constructed nearly entirely from recycled aluminum and is completely solar powered with a top speed of 5 knots. It boasts an arsenal comprised of one (unarmed) F 14 Tomcat or one (unarmed) F 18 Hornet aircraft which although they cannot be launched or captured on the 100 foot flight deck but form a very menacing presence.

As a standing order there are no firearms allowed on board. The 20 person crew is completely diversified and includes members of all races, creeds, sex, and sexual orientation. This crew, like the crew aboard the USS Jimmy Carter , is specially trained to avoid conflicts and appease any and all enemies of the United States at all costs.

An on board Type One DNC Universal Translator can send out messages of apology in any language to anyone who may find America offensive. The number of apologies are limitless and though some may sound hollow and disingenuous, the Navy advises all apologies will sound very sincere.

The ship’s purpose is not defined so much as a unit of national defense - but instead in times of conflict the USS Clinton has orders to seek refuge in Canada . The ship may be positioned near the Democratic National Party Headquarters for photo-op’s and can be used extensively for social experimentation, and whatever other worthless jobs, the ex-commander-in-chief and his wife can think of.

It is largely rumored that the ship will also be the set for the upcoming season of MTV’s “The Real World”.

The ship was renamed and commissioned USS William J Clinton when someone realized the USS Blowfish was already taken.

{author unknown}

Posted by Marc at 01:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last night and this morning was a little bit rough. Christy was moved to the rehab area of the hospital yesterday (Kind reminds me more of a nursing home) and it hit her a little hard. Physically she is fine. The wound is doing better then expected. At this point, they are saying the VAC is going to be on for 2 more weeks, and then they are going to decide at that point if she can go home, or still needs to say. Mentally things came crashing last night. It finally sunk in what was happening, what happened, and what could've happen. She also wants to go home to play with the pets, and frankly just wants to be on her own bed, and isn't looking forward to at least 2 more weeks. She realizes that this gives her the best chance to get this healed, but some times isn't doesn't make it much better. She is also getting rehab everyday, and she said today that after they rearrange her legs, that they did hurt allot since they hadn't been moved in a while.

Posted by Marc at 01:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yesterday was an OK day. Christy is feeling better, and ate, but did have some pain and nausea issues in the evening. Everyone said the wound is coming along better then expected with the VAC,so that is looking good.

The date the Christy will go home changes daily. Apparently unknown to us, they doctor was still working on putting in a long care solution(would be located at Toledo Hospital but in a different area) in place. She would not be officially a patient of Toledo Hospital, but in with rehab. if this works out,then instead of going home soon, she would be in there a few weeks yet. It really just depends on how things work out.. As much as we both want her to come home, we thing getting into rehab is going to be better. It's a more controlled environment and if something goes s wrong with the VAC, the response time would be quicker, then if she was at home. Needless to say she does miss the house, and the pets, and I think is getting a little bit homesick.

Posted by Marc at 09:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

They are changing the vac this morning, and everyone that looked at it, said the wound looks really good. That is the good news. Yesterday was a little bit rough. When I was there, Christy wasn't eating much, and having a problem with pain and nausea. In the evening the gave her some medicine that seem to help allot with both cases, and this morning she seemed a little better. No word on the going home date yet. As of right now tomorrow would be the earliest but we aren't 100% sure. Could be tomorrow, but it could be a while yet, just depends on how things are going, etc, but she is ready to come home, and we are ready for her to be home. She is also taking a antibiotic, that as a result of a side effect, has restricted her diet somewhat, which isn't helping matters. We all are trying to keep on Good spirits, and hopefully in few days we have some good news :)

Posted by Marc at 10:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So far everything is looking good. Christy has been tired, but we think that's more of a result of the drugs she has been taken. She sleep good last night and is still eating good. Right now, she is going to be in until at least the 27th. They want to take a look at how the wound vac is doing. At that point, if the vac is working out ok then chances are they will send her home. Otherwise, it could be a few days yet. When she does go home, it looks like she isn't going to need to have any IV and can take all the drugs with a pill. She will have to go to the Doc's office 3 times a week, to have the vac change but that is about it.

Posted by Marc at 09:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sorry about no update yesterday... witt the family in town, and the weather, and other general crazyness didn't get the change.

anyways..

Christy is doing fine. She's eating more.. Just about back to normal without throwing up, and temps remained normal.
The Doc came in to look at her wound last night, and said everything looked good. The thing now is trying to figure out what to do with about the wound vac, and where Christy is going to go, when she leaves the hospital
They did some tests on the parts of the bone they took out last week, and did confirm that it was infected, but they are pretty sure they got anything out. Right was are in a bit of holding pattern, to deterime what our next step is. As soon as I find out. I'll post something.

Posted by Marc at 02:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Nothing real major to report. Everything seems to be going well today. Christy enjoyed her afternoon with her neice and the rest of the her family, but was pretty tired after everyone left. So far everything it holding well, and considering everything she is in pretty good spirits. She does seem to be eating a little and resting a bit more comfortably then the last few days.

Posted by Marc at 09:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Christy's was doing pretty good tonight.. As we thought the Kidney tests came back clean, and the levels are 1/2 back to normal, so that appears ok. as far as everything else, we are on a holding pattern until Monday, and at that point we are going to make a "Game plan" on the next step. She got a surprise visitor from our niece today, that I'm sure helped cheer her up. Christy;s Sister, sister's boyfriend, and Christy's mother also are visiting us also. Christy was upset that she wasn't going to see Madison on Easter We had planned on going to her family's home in IL that weekend, but as it turned out. Some of the Family came to her, and it has gone a long way to cheer her up.

Posted by Marc at 12:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I spoke with Christy this morning and she said that she sleep good last night. There seems to be some concern regarding her Kidney functions, but the doctors thing it's a result of a antibiotic that she is using. they have since stopped that antibiotic, and switched over to another one. They are going to monitor the levels on her kidneys a few days and as a precaution do a ultra sound on them. They are not expecting anything, but just want to make sure everything is good. Her release date seems to be changing. Next week is still a possibility, but the Doctor is trying to get her to stay for a while long, while the wound heals. They did put a vac on it last night, and they may be a factor. Christy is fine with saying. The doc is just trying to find a way to convince the powers that be (Atena) that Christy needs to stay a little longer.

Posted by Marc at 10:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I spoke with Christy this morning and she said that she sleep good last night, and she is in good spirits.
There seems to be some concern regarding her Kidney functions, but the doctors thing it's a result of a antibiotic that she is using. they have since stopped that antibiotic, and switched over to another one. They are going to monitor the levels on her kidneys a few days and as a precaution do a ultra sound on them. They are not expecting anything, but just want to make sure everything is good. Otherwise, her release date seems to be changing. Next week is still a possibility, but the Doctor is trying to get her to stay for a while long, while the wound heals. They did put a vac on it last night, and that may be a factor. Christy is fine with staying. The doc is just trying to find a way to convince the powers that be (Atena) that Christy needs to stay a little longer.

Posted by Marc at 10:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I spoke with Christy this morning and she said that she sleep good last night, and she is in good spirits.
There seems to be some concern regarding her Kidney functions, but the doctors think it's a result of a antibiotic that she is using. they have since stopped that antibiotic, and switched over to another one. They are going to monitor the levels on her kidneys a few days and as a precaution do a ultra sound on them. They are not expecting anything, but just want to make sure everything is good. Otherwise, her release date seems to be changing. Next week is still a possibility, but the Doctor is trying to get her to stay for a while long, while the wound heals. They did put a vac on it last night, and that may be a factor. Christy is fine with staying. The doc is just trying to find a way to convince the powers that be (Atena) that Christy needs to stay a little longer.

Posted by Marc at 10:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Christy is doing better today. They changed her pain medication this morning and she has responded well to that. From what the nurses said, the open area look really good, and she seems more talkative today when I talked to her. She's resting as comfortably as possible in her room, and hopefully she will get to go home soon.

Posted by Marc at 10:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Christy got out of Surgery. We havn't seen her yet, but we are waiting up in her room. We spoke to the doctor, and he said that things went really well. She is going back into a normal (Privite) room, which is good. Also, depending on how things go, she might be able to go home next week. She will still need care (and the possablity of a wound vac) when we get home, and I imageion that she won't be getting up that much, but things are looking good night now. ::knock on wood::

Posted by Marc at 07:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Christy Sleep Most of yesterday, which is good, because she wasn't getting much before hand. She's eating a little more, but still no eating much. We think once next surgery is over, her nerves will relax a bit, and she will eat more. Everything else looks good. Temp is staying down, the open area looks really good. We just hope that the surgery will go a long way to help heal this thing, but even if the surgery is 100% successfull, we still got a long road ahead The surgery is later today around 2:00pm. At this time we have no idea how long it's going to be, but as soon as we find out from the Doctors how it went, I will post something.

Posted by Marc at 09:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Christy got moved to a private room last night. I wish I could say she is resting comfortably but she is anything but that right now, as the results of the surgery still has an affect on her, not to mention the pending surgery tomorrow. I think once the Surgery gets done tomorrow, and we finally know what we are dealing with, that will help everyone relax a little bit. Yesterday, the Doctor talked about putting her in a nursing home while this fully heals, something that none are looking forward to, but we are trying to keep a positive spin on it. We are still looking at what the short term sacrifices are compared to the long term game. We also knew that sometimes, she was going to have to do something like this to get this thing fully healed up.

Posted by Marc at 08:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The doc was in this morning and said everything looked good. The second surgery is set for this Wednesday, but we don't have a time for it, yet. As of this typing, they are looking for a room to put her in, but nothing open yet. She is still in ICU, but it's just a matter of finding room.

Posted by Marc at 01:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So far so good. Christy was put in a recliner yesterday for a couple of hours, and she is starting to eat again, granted it's not as much as any of us would like. The Nurses are saying the the area of the surgery is looking real good. The Doctor that preformed the surgery is going to come in sometime last this morning to take a look at it, and then finalize the date for the 2nd surgery. It doesn't sound like he's going to completely close it, but let it heal on it's own. This could take a long time, and * MAY* result in Christy going to a nursing home while this happens. We are hoping that it won't happen and we can just have nurses come to the house, but only time will tell. In truth, what every gives her the best chance to get this healed we all are for. She *Should* be out of the ICU today and back into a normal room today, depending on how things go. As soon as we found out something, I'll let you know.

Posted by Marc at 08:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

No real major change. According to the Nurse this morning, Christydid have a good sleep last night/this morning. Drank a little bit of Grape juice, and had a spoonfull of eggs this morning. Right now, she is just mostly cat napping thought out the day, but I can tell that she is feeling better because she is starting to figit a little bit. Right now, she is going to stay in ICU for another day, but things are looking good. Her temps are down to normal, which looks real good. The plan still is to have her surgery on Wedsnesday or Friday depending on how things go.

Posted by Marc at 10:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Things are looking better. As far is the infection goes, The surgery appears to have removed most, if not all of it last night, and Christy's temp is staying down. She is in ICU right now, and is expected to be there untill aleast tomorrow, maybe longer. We were finally able to see her last night around 11:30 or so, and at the time she had a breathing tube in, but that was taken out withing a couple of hours. At this point they are not allowing to take anything in through the mouth, other then a little bit of water. Looks like either wednesday or friday, she will have the 2nd surgery, but that's not confermed yet.

Posted by Marc at 12:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Christy just got out of Surgery. Everything went as well as expected. She is in the ICU recovering right now, and we haven't seen her yet since the Surgery. When we talked to the doctor, he said that it went as well as expected. Right now she is in the SICU, and is expected to be in there for a while. There is going to be a follow up surgery next week (Possible Wednesday) to fill in the hole that was created with the hip socket removed. To be honest, once that is done, she is going to be the same on both hips, since she has hasn't had the other socket for years, and had to have a procedure (called a muscle flap) to fill on the hole.

Posted by Marc at 07:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This is the Orginal Post from Christy's Blog. I'm posting it over here because the updates I put up, will make more sense

Marc

This is a note to let you all know that I am in the Toledo Hospital and awaiting surgery this afternoon. Due to a bone infection, I am having my right hip joint removed. Two good things will come from this...1) I will now be balanced again because I haven't had a left hip joint for 8 years and 2) (of course much more important) the pressure wound I have had on my backside for 2.5 years will be closed. However, the healing process is very long and a rough road. I will have to have at least one more surgery and my hospital stay could be up to a month. I am scared shitless but I am in good hands.

Love,
Christy

Posted by Marc at 12:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

That's right.. Once again, we get to play IV: The Home Game starting next week some time. To Sum it up, Christy has been went through a series of surgeries. Monday night we went to the ER around 10:30 because she had a temp of around 104. At the time of the surgeries we where told that if she develop a fever to go to the ER. We went in an after a night spent in the ER at Toledo hospital (my ass is still sore from those ER chairs) she was admitted into the hospital Tuesday Morning. After a buttload of tests, they determined what the problem was and the treatment was around 6 weeks of IV antibiotics. The good news is that it's treatable, and curable. Just will take some time. The ironic thing about this whole deal is that the reason for the fever had nothing to do with the surgeries, and the "team" of doctors, the only one that's not working on the case, is the surgeon that did the surgical. If you want more details (IE a friend or family we have accidentally neglected) Please leave a comment with your E-mail address, and I'll e-mail you an details, an updates as we get them.

Posted by Marc at 10:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I reverted back to the old why of commenting, and took off the login requirement. I reason I changed it in the first place was to deal with a spam issue with the blog. I'm looking at upgrading both mine, and Christy's blog to Moveabletype 4.0 sometime after I get the main website done, and I believe that has a a spam filter on the comment system. Granted at this point that might be Christmas.. :)

Posted by Marc at 08:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I saw this the other day, sitting in a stall, when I went to the men's room. I think I'll use the other bathroom from now on.

Posted by Marc at 10:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today at work, we had our yearly Drug and Alcohol Policy “refresher” meeting, which basically can be summed in 5 points.

1) Don’t take drugs at work (No duh!)
2) Don’t take drugs at home.
3) Don’t drink (Alcohol) at work
4) If you drink at home, don’t come to work still drunk or hung over.
5) As a condition of employment, we reserve the right to randomly test for above, and will automatically test in case of a on the job accident.

Pretty strait forward, right? It took 1 or 2 minutes to read, right? Then why the frak do they stretch it out into a 2 and ½ hour presentation at work, which was 2 hours and 45 minutes worth of fluff. Granted I know now what goes into the making of Crystal meth, but.. honestly.. I really had no need to know… The only thing that know about (or care) about with Meth, is, thanks to all the meth heads in the world, I now can’t get a decent cold medicine without having to bring a lawyer with me to the Pharmacy.

“Now, Mr Upchuck why are buying this Sudafed”

“Umm..because I’m sick”

“When you are over your could, are you planning on disposing of the extra Medicine, or keeping it around?”

::whisperwhisper”. “Sir.. My Lawyer has advised me that it would be in my best interests to not answer that question on the grounds that it could incriminate, me.”

Next thing, is I expect a stool sample, and a fingerprint to get the stuff.

As part of the meeting they showed on a Powerpoint ::sigh:: presentation a bunch of stuff that could happen if you took drugs. 2 Observations from the presentation

1) If you are trying to show “how bad” drugs and Alcohol is.. Don’t show any pictures of someone or a group of people partying.

2) If you going to show, in the course of the presentation, a section of “This could happen if you drink” Make sure that the pictures you are using don’t contain any company vehicles of the company that you are currently doing a presentation for.

Let me explain. About 2 months ago, one of our company trucks had a accident and turned over and in the process made the news(I believe it was weather related) . Now, with the company I work for, even though the trucks are primary a plain white color, they do have features on them that are distinctive to this company. In this case, they took a couple screen shots from the local news, and granted you couldn’t see the logos, you could tell who owned the truck pretty easily…
Nice Move!!!!
Don’t let the door hit you in the drug smuggling orifice in the way out.

Posted by Marc at 10:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)