Still trudging along...

Well, it's September and Dad still hasn't moved to the new West LA Veterans Home.  Our family is scraping up the extra money he needs to pay for his care.  But I'm starting to think that we might need to move him temporarily until the VA opens... $700 extra is what he needs per month and that is just too much.  Ugh... moving. 

On another note, Dad has scabies AGAIN.  This is his 4th or maybe 5th time... I don't know because I stopped counting.  I walked into his home to pick him up for a routine Psych visit and took one look at him and knew.  He was scratching in all the same places.  Luckily since we were going to the VA clinic already, I begged and pleaded to be seen so that we could get the medicine he needed for his skin.  Success!  I saw the problem, tackled it, and solved it all within hours!  All with a baby on my hip and one eye on the old guy with Alzheimer's!  Sorry for tooting my own horn, but normally the Scabies situations are much more drawn out.  (Although, the Nurse Practitioner didn't think it was scabies -why is it so hard to diagnose?- and I politely told her that I disagreed.  At this point, I know exactly what it looks like and how my Dad reacts to it, plus I did find out later when we arrived back at Valley View Gardens, that another resident also has Scabies.)

Scabies is highly contagious but I have never contracted it from him... my main worry this time was Emry.  I made sure she had absolutely no contact with him, and I probably washed my hands 20 times that day.

Dad also had another staff infection but this time in his armpit and it was really painful.  We opted to go to urgent care instead of sitting for hours at the VA ER.  $200 later, they gave him a very painful injection of Lidocaine, lanced it open, squeezed the heck out of it, and sent us home with an antibiotic and an order to come back two days later.  Again, I washed my hands countless times that day.  

Anyway, wish there was more exciting news to tell.  The Alzheimer's Walk is less than two months away and we're having a big fund-raiser at the end of the month.  More info on that coming soon!

Below is a picture of Dad and his favorite nurse at the VA Clinic in Whittier.  She is so good to him.  Thank you Vanessa!

a HANDful

Poor Dad can never seem to catch a break... and neither can I!  He has proven to be a HANDful this week.

I got a call on Monday from his care-givers who were concerned about a possible bug bite on Dad's wrist that had caused his whole hand to swell up.  Since it's impossible to get an appointment at the Veteran's Assoc on the day of, or even the week of, we had to settle for the VA ER.  Ick.

Of course, I have a newborn who should not be going into any sick environment, so luckily Grandma was able to drive up from San Diego that afternoon to watch little Emry. 

When I saw his hand, I was glad that we were taking him to see the Doctor though.  The proof is in the pictures... this was from Monday...

His hand was extremely swollen, red, and almost hot to the touch.  He was obviously also in some pain. 

The whole stint took about 4 1/2 hours out of my day, but Dad was very patient... more patient than myself who just wanted to go back home.  (I'm a nursing mother, and I was starting to get uncomfortable!... it really was the last thing I wanted to do that day!)  The nurse took a look at Dad's wrist and was glad we came in because since the abscess (as they were now calling it) was near a joint, it needed to be watched carefully so that it wouldn't spread and cause some real damage.   They sent us to the pharmacy to collect Penicillin and a drug that treats Staff infections and gave instructions for his home to apply hot compresses 3 times a day to the wound.

Fast forward to two days later at his follow up appointment.  (And, yes, every time I have to take him to an appointment, I am trying to figure out what to do with Emry.  I'm starting realize that with a newborn, it's basically impossible for me to do it all alone.)  We had a VERY early appointment so that my husband could stay home to watch Emry and just go late to work.

The Nurse Practitioner that we saw was still very concerned about Dad's wound.  Basically it could be a contagious Staff infection called MRSA.  It was still hard as a rock and hadn't started to drain, although the swelling had gone done a bit.  She warned me to wash my hands very thoroughly since I have a baby at home and also told me that the minute it finally starts to drain, that we will need to go back to the ER so they can cut it open and drain it!  Oh GEEZ.  And that the most important thing was for the hot compresses to be applied throughout the day.  I'm not sure how successful his care givers were in actually getting Dad to agree to hot compresses...  This next picture is at his follow up appointment.  Still looking very red and angry...

So, I'm just waiting for the phone to ring again for when we have to take him back to the ER.  Poor guy.