Possible infection & slumber party

Danny completed the 6 hour excursion yesterday--yaaay!!! We didn't do much because we were both so tired. We made it to the atrium on the first floor and sat down to rest. Then we looked around the pharmacy and sat down to rest again. Next was lunch in the cafeteria and then off to nap in the most comfy chairs next to a fountain that sounds like the rainforest. Keep in mind that the first rest stop to the cafeteria were all very close to eachother...the rainforest nap was a little further. Did I say we are exhausted? I'm not sure there were ever two people more ready to get back to a hospital room than Danny and I were! Maybe that's how all excursions go....

Danny's driveline site (hole where the power cord comes out the abdomen) appears to be getting infected. 2 days ago I noticed redness and a tiny bit of drainage. I notified the nurse who notified her supervisor and charted it in the computer. Yesterday it seemed more red and had more discharge. Again, I notified the nurse but also paged the LVAD coordinator on call. She called the doctor who was to come in this morning and look at my pictures and then order a culture. That's where the ball dropped...Apparently the doctor didn't put the order in, so the nurse didn't know which culture to request/do. He spoke to his charge nurse, who suggested calling the lab to see if there is a standard culture for possible LVAD driveline infections. Can you guess? The lab didn't know. I did the dressing change again just now and it is still red and has a colored discharge. I notified the nurse who said we would find out which culture the doctor wants when she rounds in the morning. I have a feeling that won't go well because it takes a couple of days for those lab results to be ready. A driveline infection is just so serious...truthfully, it's potentially fatal.It could be other things though...reaction to the cord itself, or a pocket of fluid ??(that's a possibility the nurse said). I don't remember the other possibilities she mentioned. Danny is not running fever and his white blood count is normal....those are positive signs of no infection but on the other hand, redness and colored discharge are signs of infection. This is definitely scary but we are just believing in the Lord for complete healing in the driveline exit site!

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Fun news: The charge nurse gave us permission to let Maggie and Charlie spend the night with us in Danny's room tonight. We are all so happy to be together again. Maggie and I did some quality homework time together while Danny and Charlie watched the LSU game! 

The hope is that Danny can go home Monday...but I don't want to get my hopes up too much! BP, INR, and the driveline site must all be okay before he will be released. We want God's perfect timing for discharge. As much as we want to be home, it's better to trust in God's timing. 

Please continue to pray for the kids as this is so hard on them. Maggie is still struggling her way through learning organization, time-management, and study skills. Learning those lessons alone can be brutally stressful, but adding Daddy this sick and me not being home either just adds to her worries. 

Thank you for praying!

~T