Free At Last!

Archie got a CT scan this morning before I arrived.  Then we spent the rest of the morning waiting and hoping for the doctors to get in ASAP.  We saw the internal medicine doctor mid morning and she said she was not sending Archie home with any medicine and discontinuing the blood pressure medicine that he had been on.  We went on a walk and Archie napped for a little while.  I went to get lunch and then Archie snoozed for a little while longer.  We went for a walk outside after signing a consent for since Archie has been stuck in the hospital for a week.  Then the infectious disease doctor came for a visit and said that we could go home after the neurosurgeon released us.  I had a list of questions to ask him about the whole antibiotic situation.  We found out that after the neurosurgeon released us that we would have to go over to the clinic to have a class to figure out how to care and take care of the IV antibiotics and if the neurosurgeon didn't show up before 4 pm that we would be stuck in the hospital for another night and it was 1:45 pm.  So we were a little worried that we would be hanging out in the hospital for another night, GRRRR.  Thankfully, the neurosurgeon showed up 30 minutes later and said we could go home.  We just have to go visit him on Monday to remove the stitches then we should be done with him as long as there is not another infection.  There is a chance of infection because the catheter was left in his head because it was attached to part of the blood vessel.  In the CT scan it did show some swelling where the catheter.  We are hoping that the antibiotics could clear up the issue.  If for some reason an infection shows up later on in life the neurosurgeon will have to go in and surgically remove the catheter but we will be optimistic and hope that will not happen.  The reason infections attach to the shunt and anything prostetic is because it is something foreign placed in the body, it is plastic and there is not anything there to fight the infection like blood vessels or anything like that.

We were then cleared to go over for our class over in the infectious disease clinic.  I called my mom, who is a nurse to come join us for the class so that we had a backup and knowledgeable person at the training as well.  She headed down from her house to join us while we waited for transportation to come get us.  After 30 minutes I received a phone call that my mom would be trained on the IV antibiotics so we don't have to worry about transportation.  I asked if we could just walk over since it wasn't that far away and the lady said if the nurse said it was okay.  The nurse just had us sign out and off we went.  Of course when we showed up at the clinic they didn't know Archie was getting released today but thought it would be a couple more days, they were not thrilled Archie was allowed to walk over and they didn't know if they would be able to get the antibiotics prepared in time.  So it was a hot mess!  So we were taught about how to care for the IV antibiotics.  Archie is going to have to go to the clinic weekly to get the PICC line cleaned, get a week's worth of antibiotics, get blood drawn and see the doctor.  After the training we waited in the waiting room to see if they could prepare the drugs and after a little while they said it would be alright and taken care of.  My mom waited for the drugs and we headed back to the room because Archie was due another round of antibiotics that would need to be administered before we headed home.  The antibiotics we received have to sit at room temperature for 4-6 hours before they are administered so we had one more round in the hospital while we were getting discharge papers and instructions.  So Archie was released at 5 pm just in time for rush hour traffic that affected us because the hospital is in Dallas and our house was in Frisco.  We grabbed dinner and headed home.  Mom came with us to supervise the first batch of antibiotics and it was a little humorous.  I know it will get better with time but the antibiotics are attached and pumping for the next 24 hours.   Our nightly activities will be pretty low key for the next 4-6 weeks since we need to be home to attach the antibiotics each night around 9 pm, maybe some early dinners.  I thankful for all the doctors and staff who helped take care of Archie the past week, thankful he is home and glad that I get to sleep in my bed tonight.  Thank you for the prayers and support you have given us the past week and the past year!