I thought that was an untied pillow...

The hospital also tried to give him O+ blood instead of O-.

Try a pilloried tie. Works every time.

It's a good thing you caught that problem with the blood mismatch! I have type A- blood, which is almost as bad of an invitation to potential disaster.

Actually, I didn't.

On Thursday, when he was still groggy from surgery the day before and I was waiting for the tow truck (another comedy of errors), they gave him the first unit. On Saturday, they came strolling in with two more units! At that point, he said, "I'm a blood donor. I've given 3 gallons of blood. You are not giving me O+!"

Lucky one there.

That's worse than mis-labeling some lab tests.

Rose! What a thing to happen! One thing after another. I am glad he got it sorted but it's sad he lost his toe... foot infections can be terrible. My hubby had a major one that basically wrote off both of us all spring, (lack of sleep, neither of us could work) Watch what dressings the clinic use, and what antibiotics. I think my guy caught MRSA at clinic... and the only thing that actually seemed to work for his toe to heal it up at all was a honey dressing. You can get these readymade - or improvise with a plaster and a little smear of fresh organic honey. Reapply every two-three days. It vastly reduced the pain the other dressings seemed to cause too. This is a tough guy but the toe pain is something else.

The Wound Clinic doctor prescribed this high tech wound packing made from seaweed... but they've never checked to see where you can get this stuff! So I wasted 2 hours and much gasoline this morning running all over town, came home and threw the phone and phone book at the hubby and told him to find out where to get it before I was doing anything else.

Some people are good aren't they? It may be something made from Bull Kelp.
It is harvested on King Island, Bass Strait, Aussie. Sent all over the world for medicines, food additives, cosmetics. It makes the head on your beer last longer, it makes your chocolate cake taste richer, it goes into the Iron tablets your doctor prescribes.

A prominent burns specialist here has been using pure honey to treat skin wounds, mainly bad burns, with considerable success. The real thing, not any of that "pasteurized" or any other type of treated honey. To the extent, that we can get sterile honey impregnated wound dressings for first aid kits etc.

But, that is ancient knowledge. My Great-Grandmother used honey on burns, cuts and scratches, when I was a kid. Biggish cuts were bound up with spider web. No worries, she'll be right mate, off you go and play some more.

This is a bit different. Still a wound that needs tending though.
It might be also worth a mention next visit.

Remember the O+ transfusion? Well, he developed antibodies to the Rh+ factor... now they have to give him O neg or nothing! They have no O neg in the city except for the emergency supplies (for people who come in bleeding to death with no time for typing for an exact match), so they have to have some sent from Rochester.

Yes, he's back in the hospital. Allegedly pneumonia. I'll believe that when they pump some snot out of his lungs. I think it's edema leading to congestive heart failure again, even tho his feet aren't very swollen.

We took a medication list with us, and the damn doctor couldn't just give him the stuff on the list, he screwed with the insulin (bad move) and claimed the Lasix was too much strain on his kidneys -- so they're pumping him full of IV fluid and it's not coming back out. Can you say edema? He thinks there's fluid around his lungs again.

Shorty, all the high tech wound dressings did the job -- his foot's one of the best functioning parts of him! BTW, hot water and a little vinegar is good for extreme foot odor. The wound clinic thought it was hysterically funny that the doctor told us to soak his foot in vinegar!

Other family bad news: Danielle's younger brother, Pauly, had a tumor on his brainstem. Although they did an MRI, when they got in there, it was growing into the brainstem, not just next to it. They were able to get it all, and when he was coming out of anesthesia, he was able to move his hands and feet, knew where he was and who people were, so it looks like he'll be fine.

Aw, darn, and I'm fresh out of O- blood, too.

How did Pauly come to find out about the tumor? Were there symptoms?

Rose, I'm sorry to hear the news about hubby. My prayers are with you.

I'm glad to hear that things look positive for Pauly. Let's hope things continue along that line and the good vibes flow over to hubby. I hope the doctor has something good in mind, and things get better quickly.

I second the "good vibe overflow" motion!

Very sorry to learn of the continuing problems with your Hubby & do hope things turn around, starting now.

-ZW

He had headaches, which were assumed to be migraines due to family history (father, uncle, and great-aunt (me)) and stress from his sister dying. One day, he went numb, so he had an MRI and voila! tumor. The doctors were really worried about damaging the brain stem during the operation, but he seems to be ok.

Thank you everyone! I called the kidney specialist's office yesterday and asked that he be sure to see the hubby. Hopefully, he won't resemble a water balloon when I go see him this afternoon.