Halloween

K had to spend most of Halloween Eve in her regular dialysis slot this afternoon. Ken picked her up, while I tended the door. Can't let those trick-or-treaters go without candy! Ken got her home from dialysis just in time for her to hear the last Halloweeners ring our doorbell.

Geocache!

Victory! Ken and Mandy and I found our first Geocache! We're walking the dog in the town of Morrison, near Red Rocks amphitheater, after having breakfast at the Blue Cow restaurant.

Porter Dialysis

K's temporarily at a nice dialysis facility, across the street from Harvard Gulch Park. I'm walking Mandy around the park now. K's going here, while they're remodeling the Littleton DaVita facility.

Walking

Had a great breakfast at Original Pancake House, now walking the dog at DeKoevend Park nearby. Pretty Fall colors all around...

Walking

Ahhhh, the lovely sounds of a cold clear Fall morning, after the first snow: the "scrape, scrape, scrape" of people getting their cars ready to go to work.

Snow. Hah!

Hardly any snow out there this morning. Roads are wet but fine. So much for the "BLIZZARD OF 2011!!!" hype in the news last night. Happy Birthday, Mikele!

Snow coming

Wuh, ohh... Forecast for a low of 17°F and six inches of snow here on Wednesday.

Pancake Breakfast!

Stopped at Original Pancake House for breakfast before work! Woo Hoo! This is a really cool thing, about moving our offices to the other side of town! All I have to do, is pull an all-nighter, so I can leave early enough to squeeze it in. :-/

Cold

It's 29°F out there. So now I don't feel so silly about shutting off and draining our drip system on Monday. Whew. Saved myself fifty bucks and some angst.

IOS-5

I chickened out, and decided to shut off the drip system, even though the forecast is only for a measly low of 32. Got brave, and decided to update the iphone to IOS 5 tonight.

Rain

Surprise. BIG drops coming down this morning!

Struggling along

K's legs were swollen again on Friday. Now her right foot is looking poorly. We saw her Ortho doc on Friday and she did a lot of cleanup. We're keeping a low profile over the weekend. Seems to be helping, as her legs look better today. Ken and I had a delightful walk through City Park and around the lake, after having a delicious breakfast at Racines. Love their french toast with a banana on it!

Visitor

Our friend Claudia stopped by to visit, on her way to San Diego this weekend. We had some fun - had breakfast at Original Pancake House (her first time in 19 years), visited the Red Rocks amphitheater, Sunday breakfast at Blue Cow, and walked up and down along Bear Creek in the town of Morrison. We almost got it together to hunt down a GeoCache, at Claudia's urging. Sounds like fun!

Dialysis moved

K resumed her usual dialysis schedule last night. Except that they're remodeling the Littleton DaVita center, so for the next few months she'll be going a lot farther away, up near Porter Hospital. And they moved her time slot almost an hour sooner. Not so usual, I guess...

Checking out

Checking out of this place! Would be nice, if everyone had a clearer sense of why she was here in the first place. Still, it'll be great to get her home.

Here til Monday

They're keeping K at St Jo until Monday at least. They'll do another Ultrasound then. Her left leg has gone down to the same size as the right, very good news. She's been fighting a continuing battle over pain meds with the docs here, and she claims she had a big win this morning.

No resolution

No resolution yet, on K's swollen leg. She had a monster low BG this morning, but she's ok now. Her room has a great view of Denver to the West, and I can even see our car with Mandy in it, down there in the Humboldt Garage.

Back at St Jo

So we show up at St Joseph ER, at the direction of K's primary care doctor. "So why are you here?" they ask. Sigh. Where's the coordination? They're checking her in on the 4th floor. They don't see much of a clot on their ultrasound, either. So they'll be making sure her leg stays up, and that she gets dialysis in the morning, and maybe do another ultrasound to see if they can spot the cause of the edema.

Back to hospital

K saw her doctor today. He is pissed at the ER for sending her home last night. He thinks the clot is more serious than the ER indicated. It sounds like I will be meeting her at home after work, and taking her to St Joseph hospital this afternoon.

Sent Home

Sonogram says... She does have a blood clot. But it's fairly small, and not interfering with flow. So, I ask, why is her leg swollen and hot? [shrug]The ER doc said the clot isn't significant, and sent us home. We're supposed to come running back to ER if she shows signs of swelling, redness, or fever. And be sure to get her to her scheduled doc appointment tomorrow...I would think she needs a makeup dialysis session, but I don't think she'll get one. She's got 5 doc or nurse appointments in the next two days, so we'll be lucky to get her to her scheduled session on Friday evening.

Deja Vu

Oh nuts. K just texted me, that they're taking her off dialysis, and sending her to ER with a swollen and hot left leg. This is the same leg that's had trouble all month with the foot wound and infection.

Home again

They finally discharged her on Friday afternoon, on daily antibiotics to try to keep the osteomyelitis at bay. Life is slowly returning to the more usual routine.

Another Surgery

Kristan went into surgery again this morning, a planned cleanup effort after Tuesday's surgery. She's in recovery now. Doc Melberg says it went well, and looks like it should heal up over the next few days. They'll keep her at least overnight, while the cultures grow, so they can target with the right antibiotics. Labs and blood counts, and any complications, will determine if she has to stay longer.

Awake

They left the wound open, packed with antibiotics, so they can watch the progress and make sure it's starting to heal properly. Then they'll close it up on Thursday or Friday. They stopped several meds that may be contributing to the confusion and disorientation problem. K says she hasn't felt this awake and alert in a long time.

Recovering

She's out of surgery and recovering. The surgeon reported that he amputated the 2nd toe, and took some more of the 3rd toe bone.

More Surgery

Kristan says they saw Osteomyelitis in her foot, in the recent X-Ray and MRI scans. They'll probably take her into surgery today. What they do, will depend on what they find, once they're into the foot.

Busted

...and this is why we get spares, and why it was so cool that K got me two more for my Birthday this year!

Back at ER

Sorry to say, we're back at the St Joseph ER. Not even sure why. She's been really dopey all day, starting with falling out of bed this morning. My biggest concern is that we haven't been able to get her BG down since last night. The Oncology Doc and Kaiser Nurse both thought we should come here.

Unbelievable

The unforeseen expense: Last night someone cut and stole the copper pipe from our HOA's sprinkler valve, leaving the uncapped pipe gushing water for eight hours. The loss isn't covered by insurance, and the water company's not inclined to make an adjustment in the bill for the water usage. Replacing the valve alone will be around $1,000.

Hello, Geese

Nice day for a bit longer walk...