Full update as of 4-17-09 PM

Here is a summery of what has been going on:

2 weeks ago Friday, Bob felt really sick, with really bad headaches and flu like symptoms, as the days passed he got new symptoms such as lack of appetite, knee pain, delayed motor skills, eye infection.  He went to the hospital about 3-4 times between that Friday and this last Saturday. Somewhere along the way he was diagnosed with an eye infection, and then Wegener's Granulomatosis, which is a neurological disorder that is very rare.  He was displaying many symptoms of that so he had an appointment set up for Tuesday April 14, in Spokane with a specialist. On Saturday after he was taken to the ER when he was in extreme pain, they gave him staroid meds for the pain and sent him home while he awaited his Tuesday appointment.  Then on Sunday he was very sick and couldnt coordinate his hand to eat or move, and he was very faint and weak.  On Monday morning he couldnt get up out of bed, and had lost all energy and was in extreme pain, aches all over his body.  He was taken to the ER in an ambulance then was immediately taken to Sacred Heart in  Spokane in the ambulance.  When he arrived here the doctors immediately started to work on dealing with the largest areas of infection such as his knee and lesions on his toes.  And they took an MRI of the brain then too.  On Tuesday morning he went in for knee surgery on his knee. They had to go in and clean out the infection in the knee.  While he was in surgery they also did a eco of his heart to help diagnose him correctly.  The cardiologist did find what was there, its an infection on the heart valve spreading the infection through the blood stream, endocadartis is the official word. It wasn't the nerve WG disorder, but the infection from the heart valve spread  through his body in the blood stream.  Later that day with the help of the blood cultures taken in one of his earlier hospital visits in Orofino, they were able to see what bug(virus) it was that was attacking his system. It was staph aureus, MSSA,( so not the MRSA worst one so that was good). His docs,  this is kinda funny, his docs from the first day and who are still following up with him, were Dr. Grahm and Dr. Mallo (the" rolla roaster team", haha, dad said that).  Before they figured out the bug they had him on a broad range of antibiotics, and then when they found out what it was they put him on 2 specific ones.  The hope is that the antibiotics will go through his system, stop the infection from spreading, and shut down the abbesses from growing.  

He  was in Intensive Care Unit on a ventilator and sedated for the rest of the day on Tuesday and through the night.  On wednesday morning they ext-abated him, took the breathing tube out and he was awake and aware, was able to eat actual liquid meals, like soup, milk etc. He has not been able to feed himself yet since his arm is weak, but he was eating.  And finally he was allowed to drink water, which he says is the greatest thing ever!  He was denied water all the time before that point. ON Wednesday morning,the neurologist gave us MRI results, he was able to look at the scan and find 8 absences of septic emboli in his brain, The neurologist walked us through and showed us the images and where the infection is.   Bob isnt showing signs of brain damage or seizing, that is very good and means that he might recover without any lasting brain problems.  One of the concerns at the time is seizures, so the dr. ordered an EEG brain wave test on his brain, that was on Bob for Wednesday afternoon, til Thurs morning.  The readings came back clear there was no seizure activity, and every time the Neurologist comes in he is very excited and amazed to see how Bob is improving.  On Thursday he did really well. He was still in the ICU but was very alert and joking around all day.  He ate 3 meals. Gave his nurse Shaun a rolla roaster and gave the sales pitch. They moved him up to the 8th floor, the Neuroscience floor, at 3am On Friday morning.

And Friday April 17th is today,  Hes really tired today, but still clear.  I think hes just exhausted.  He had an MRI this morning on his spine, and that checked out clean.  So thats great!  and the other concern for today is that he has blood in his urine, but they arnt too alarmed about it. They did an ultra sound this afternoon on his kidneys to see if there is an abscess in there, if its large enough they will have to do a procedure to drain it.  But overall the antibiotics are working, the infections disease doc came in today and check up on him.  The main concerns right now is the kidney and his breathing, he has a little fluid in his lungs so we just have to get him up sitting, which he did today once, and get  him breathing deep.  And the physical therapist came into day and checked on his strength, the was able to sit on his own after he was helped to sit up.  And he stood for a little bit with assistance. So thats all good news. Right now he just really needs a good night sleep so he can have more strength, so pray that he'll get a good nights sleep and the other issues will be cleared up.  We asked the doc today how much longer we will be here, she said Wednesday best case scenario, and then probably a week at the rehab center, that is if everything stays getting better, and we don't encounter any more problems.  On Tues they will have to do another eco of his heart to make sure the infection is going away and there is no further damage to the heart.  So we will be here awhile longer it looks like.

  Breck is coming up tonight and Rich and Diane are here now, Mom and I have been here every day, all day and were here really late last night. I personally am getting antsy by being in this hospital all the time.  But I think Ill go running tomorrow. Hopefully all this info doesn't overwhelm you, Thank you all for all your prayers, Dad says Hi and Thankyou.  Praise God for all the healing that has taken place!  Talk to you soon.

Katelyn