And so we're going back to Beaumont

Sorry I couldn't come up with a more clever title for today's entry. It does catch your eye though, doesn't it?

The NYE celebration at Heartland and subsequent days of parades, football games and visitors were pretty normal. Val, Colleen & I visited Saturday, a friend from church visited Saturday evening, and Byron & Colleen and I visited on Sunday. Yesterday she participated in physical therapy and had some good workouts. Today when I got here, her PT got her up and walking prior to leaving for the appointment at the Wound Center. Pretty regular stuff for Mom and she was feeling pretty good, raving about the vegetable soup she had for lunch.

Prior to the Dr looking at the wound (measured at 50 mm x 40 mm, which translates roughly 2" x 1.5"), the nurse explained what causes decubitus ulcers (bed sores), as well as problems associated with them. In her presence I made sure mom understood everything and let her know she didn't do anything to cause the problem. In talking with the nurse I expressed surprise that she hasn't been in any pain or discomfort, but learned that since this sore is in her sacrum (the location of the bone infarct), there are no nerves and hence no pain.

Dr. Ordona came in, took a look, asked some questions and then discussed the cobalt treatments she received all those decades ago, in the early 1960s. He pointed out that this is the long term affect of the cobalt and the issue is soft tissue radiation necrosis. Mom spoke up at that point, sharing that Dr. Schuneman (our family doctor of yore) told her the cobalt would probably wreck havoc on her body in 40-50 years. As luck would have it, Dr. Ordona remembers Dr. Schuneman's name, and also saw patients at Ardmore hospital, where Mom had her colon cancer surgery. I didn't think he was that old! Anyhow, it made Mom feel connected, always a plus.

At his recommendation, Mom is going to be admitted to Beaumont tomorrow and he is (hopefully) scheduling surgery for Friday. If it can't be scheduled for Friday, it will have to be on the following Wednesday (the 13th). The options presented were to go to the ER for admission right then, waiting for a hospitalist to be assigned, or let Dr. Ordona's office try to get a bed and have the hospital contact me tomorrow. I picked door #2 and brought her back to Heartland.

The procedure to be performed will consist of removing the dead tissue, possibly scraping the bone and testing for an infection in her bone. This will be done under mild sedation with a local anesthetic. Since she is in no pain and has no feeling in that area, that seems like the best thing to do. Her stay in the hospital will be 5-6 days following surgery and then discharge to some kind of nursing home.

Follow up care will consist of hyperbaric oxygen treatment daily. This treatment will take two hours a day. She will receive this treatment while in the hospital, I think, but will require it daily following hospitalization for at least six weeks.

One other option that was discussed was plastic surgery to fill in the hole, but the soft tissue radiation necrosis precludes that.

So that's it. The hospital is to contact me tomorrow. If I haven't heard from them by noon, I'm to contact the Wound Center for assistance. Hope I didn't forget anything.