My Dad - update added - Again!

[caham]

Update in red at the end

 

I thought it would be easier to send a message with an update of my dad - feel free to ignore, but I have had many ask about what is going on. My dad is diabetic and a couple of weeks ago developed an infection on one of his toes, this developed into gangrene and ended up infecting a second toe.  At the same time he was diagnosed with peripheral artery disease and developed a blood clot behind his knee. In order to treat the blood clot it was determined that of the 3 arteries that supply blood to the foot he was only getting 10% blood flow to the healthy toes. The doctors were able to open up one artery and were hoping the increased blood flow to the foot would help save his toes and foot. Unfortunately that hasn't happened. On Wednesday he had a follow up visit at the wound center and was immediately admitted to the hospital under the suspicion of another blood clot - which fortunately wasn't the case. However, it was decided unexpectedly this morning that surgery needed to be done to remove the 2 bad toes and see if they can determine what type of infection is causing all of these problems. Today before surgery, when the doctor met with us, he said that the surgery today would be the first and that once the infection was cultured, and the blood flow checked in my dads foot, further surgery would be done to remove the the tissue of my dads that no longer has any active blood flow. It appears that midway (or half of his foot) will need to be amputated. Hopefully when they check the blood flow tomorrow, they will be able to say for sure what the amputation will amount to (hopefully not his full foot or worse). The reason the for the amputation is that they can only let him keep as much/if any of the foot that still has blood flow and will be able to heal. As of right now, his next surgery isn't scheduled, but will be soon as they didn't close his foot up today when they removed the 2 toes.

Yesterday was my dad's second surgery. He had all of the toes removed on the problem side along with some of his foot. I think when I talked with him he said they went an inch below the big toe knuckle. The doctor was very happy with the amount of bleeding my dad had - which is what is soooo important and will help him keep the rest of his leg. Now he has to wait a few days and they will come back and see how he is healing and check his oxygen level in his foot to see if he will be able to keep the rest of his leg. His oxygen level has to be at the very minimum 30% (they would rather see it at 50-60%), but his toes before all of this only had a reading of 10-13%, which is why they had to be removed. He is responding well to the antibiotics they are giving him for the infection (he has the same bacteria that causes SARS infections). He still seems to be in good spirits but is very bored. The doctor said he is looking at 4-5 weeks of recovery - the majority, if not all, to be done in the hospital. He is expected to be able to walk once he is fitted with a special device that will fit in his shoe.

Thank you for your continued prayers! I really appreciate knowing I have such great friends here!

I fogot to update, I guess I have been spending too much time going back and forth to the hospital and then Christmas was in there too. Anyway, my dad ended up having a third surgery where they amputated his leg below the knee (about 3 maybe 4 inches below the knee). After his surgery, he wasn't in the best of shape. He had very low blood pressure and his pulse rate was extremely low (hovering around 48-51 and anytime it went under 50 he would set alarms off). But he has pulled through that and is pretty much off all of his pain meds, other than he is going through some pretty intensive physical therapy and still dealing with "phantom pains" and occassionally needs a pain pill. It appears that the infection has been held at bay, which is probably the main reason they ended up amputating his leg. The blood vessels in his lower leg had very little blood flow so the antibiotics they were trying to treat the infection with weren't getting to the source of the problem. Right now he is trying to get his blood pressure regulated (at one point they had him on 5 different blood pressure pills) and early this weeks he was feeling "blah" well it turns out his blood pressure was only 102/48. He is still getting low readings on his blood pressure, so hopefully this will be straightened out soon. Along with that, he is also very anemic and had to have a blood tranfusion today (two units), and his blood sugar has been running so low in the morning that he has to have a prebreakfast snack in order to raise it to a normal level (when they test him in the morning it has been running around 60). His primary medical doctor wants to run tests on him for blood he is passing in his stool, but my dad is refusing any further testing until he can leave the hospital (he doesn't want them to keep any longer) and the doctor was ok with that. Hopefully that test will be a postivie outcome as he can really use a break! He has been in the hospital since Dec. 3rd and thanks to the wonderful Insurance company he will be coming home on Wed. of next week, regardless if he is ready or not. So, please continue to pray for him that he has continued healing and that he is on the road to recovery. He still has a looooooong road to go down, he is learning to get around without a leg (my parents live in a tri-level home and my dad is a big guy), and it will be another 6 weeks before he is fitted for a prosthesis. He is also dealing with a lot of emotional issues, which it is hard for him to understand, but I keep telling him it is normal. I mean, he went into the hospital to have 2 toes removed, and he will be coming home without a leg - that is a lot to deal with. But we are lucky and blessed that he is still with us!

[Jweaver]

Dec. 4, 2008 at 11:33 PM

so sorry! hope you gets better!

[Sherry543]

Dec. 5, 2008 at 9:41 AM

I'm so sorry to hear about the difficulties of Diabetes with your dad and his foot. I hope the surgery is successful today and that he will be on his way to healing. I'm sure it's not easy losing a foot. I hope he is able to deal with that too. Hugs to all of you!

[LovesFredric]

Dec. 5, 2008 at 10:10 AM

I'm so sorry - we're keeping you all in our thoughts.

[mommyof4sussex]

Dec. 9, 2008 at 6:12 PM

im so sorry. my dad had diabetes as well he passed 3 yrs ago before that he had his toes amputated then his foot and finally up to under his knee. he had alot of other problems as well with his heart. i hope your dad gets better and all my prayers are with you and your family. so sorry. and i really hope he gets better.

[mommyof4sussex]

Dec. 16, 2008 at 11:53 AM

im glad to hear he is at least in good spirits. and that things are looking up. i hope everything continues to go well. i wish you all the best and my prayers are still with you and your family and esp your dad. hope you have a very happy holiday and a happy new yr. and thank you so much for all you have done.

[SMASEH]

Jan. 16, 2009 at 7:20 PM

So sorry about your dad. I am just reading it. You sound like a wonderful daughter! I will so keep your family in my prayers.

[FXmomTo3]

Aug. 16, 2009 at 6:08 AM

Wow, I'm so sorry your Dad and family had to go through all of this.  I read with a whole lot of interest because my Dad went through something similar, except he was lucky enough to have his foot and leg saved ! - not that he could use it for 3 years!  Dad had an infection in his foot which developed into an ulcer and yes, they found a blood clot behind his knee too...his leg swelled up and exploded in mini-volcanoes all over his leg...they were going to amputate just above the knee but after he was prepped for the surgery, they decided to treat him in the burn unit because essentially his skin was burned from the heat of the infection....he is now resistant to antibiotics....It took 3  years for the ulcers to heal and he is told if he gets another infection, it might be his last !  During those 3  years he had to stay off his feet, wear special shoes constantly for trips to the bathroom and to keep swelling down...at the same time he was confined to his chair, he was told he would have to lose weight before he would be able to put enough pressure on his foot to walk again....that was an almost impossible feat unfortunately...he did lose about 20 pounds, but not the 50 he was hoping for....regardless it did heal for now anyway (only about 2 months ago that he started walking again)  Now, that is recently mostly better, his kidneys are shutting down and he is told he has less than a year before he goes on dialysis....that is from a genetic disorder called polycystic kidneys....     How is your Dad doing now???? 

[caham]

Aug. 16, 2009 at 10:57 AM

My dad is adapting, but has recently lost his health insurance coverage - I don't even want get started on that whole thing!!! He had a scare a month ago when he met with his oncologist, they thought his cancer had returned because his blood count was high. However, when he went back for another blood test, it dropped low enough to be just under the "warning" number. My dad has learned to walk on his prosthesis, but fell last week at home, knocking a big hole in the wall - and because he doesn't have health insurance he won't go to the doctor to get checked out. I think he hit his head on the wall and that was what caused the hole as he said the only thing that bothered him after the fall was his head. Backing up a bit, when he met with his oncologist the last time, the oncologist told him he needed to meed with his kidney doctor as soon as possible - but again that has been put off due to the fact that he has no health insurance....it seems to be a never ending saga!!!

(Original Poster)