Well, now we wait

 Right, so Geoff's wounds on his leg are healing nicely - Sister Anne says she probably only has to come to dress them one more time. (The donor sites on his thighs that got badly infected). The wound on his head is doing okay with the vacpack - but the operation is still considered an emergency, so in spite of the third wave of Covid infections Geoff should still be able to get a place in the ICU. So as soon as Dr Landau is back from holiday he should get booked in to theatre. And I guess I'd better book a Covid test three days before this time. 

A much nicer day!

 Shew, well today Geoff got up and made a fire! I'm so pleased! I was really worried yesterday because he slept the entire day. Dropped two cups of coffee from his nerveless fingers as he slept! (I was quite cross by the second one, by the way!) But today he is so much better I really feel quite upbeat. He's had five small meals - as Sister Anne, who comes in every three days to do his dressings suggested - instead of three biggish ones, and I gave him a sponge bath today as well. AND took him for his Covid vaccination - yippee!

Walker and Grabber

Well, I felt quite tearful today. It's not pleasant going out to buy your husband a walker. Frankly it's not. I couldn't find one with dead man's handles, so I got one with two wheels and two legs and no seat, instead. You have to lift the legs at the back to move along, and so it stops if you stop. I needed the handles in case he suddenly faints ... but this will do as well. I'm sorry it doesn't have a seat, but he can wear the vacpack handbag around his shoulders (Michael put a strap on it).  It's not as if he has to rest between walking from the lounge to the bedroom to the loo. Everything is pretty close. Anyway, as a fun thing I bought him a grabber as well. You can pick up your phone from across the table without having to get up. 

Home again, home again, jiggety-jig!

 So it looks like the Superbug has been vanquished, and I fetched Geoff from hospital this morning. At present he is sitting in the sun in the lounge, having had some of Bettina's Woollies soups for lunch. I was feeling so depressed earlier, mainly because yesterday he said I should maybe get him a walker with dead man's handles. But today I will go out and look for one ... even though today he thinks he probably won't need it. I would feel better if he had one to lean on in the night so that there's no more of that fainting going on! 

Dressings not done

Not a major rant, but I was annoyed to see Geoff's bandages hadn't been changed since Thursday. I was wearing blue gloves, so couldn't send a message (have to wear a yellow apron and blue gloves when I visit!),  but I got Geoff to ask Dr Landau to please sort it out. Which he did, promptly.  

Hideous Fairground Ride

 This is beginning to feel like a nightmare rollecoaster ride. You can't get off, you can't stop, you just have to keep hoping that it will be over soon. Yesterday started off well. My friend Kate arrived at 6am to help get Geoff into his car - he and I left the house at 6:25. We arrived in plenty of time at my son's house in Kenilworth for breakfast. His wife made lovely oats porridge and he ate before seven, because after that nil by mouth until the operation. This operation was going to be a success. Plastic surgeon Dr Landau called in a Dr du Toit from Grootte Schuur Hospital who was the very best, he said, and Doc Landau himself would be assisting. Now, we had a very narrow window for this operation. Dr du Toit was leaving for America soon after, and Dr Landau was taking well-deserved leave. So Geoff had to be squeezed in this day. He had to have an emergency covid test to make sure he could enter the hospital (all of us forgot about that) but it was fine, was negative. Then he waited until 1pm. At one o' clock, he was told the skin graft donor sites on his thighs have become infected. That was where the flap was to have been taken from. So they could not proceed. I went to see him in hospital and he was in the ICU in an isolation ward getting intravenous antibiotics because the bacteria (bacterium) was MRSA. Of course I googled it and saw it is the superbug that is usually hospital-acquired. I had no idea - hadn't heard of it before, but anyway, Geoff is in hospital and I'm washing all the stuff he touched on the hottest cycle on my machine. Well I hope it's all and that I haven't been busily spreading this bacteria to everyone around me. 

What a vac pack looks like

 

This is known as Negative-pressure wound therapy (NPWT), also known as a vacuum assisted closure (VAC). It is a therapeutic technique using a suction pump, tubing and a dressing to remove excess pus and promote healing in acute or chronic wounds. It is of course only a temporary measure, and I hope Geoff will have a fourth but this time successful operation soon. 

Home

Okay so today is a very good friend of mine's birthday, so I was in Somerset West when I get a messge from Geoff that he is being discharged from the hospital this morning and had to be out of the ward by 13:00 at the latest. I am so grateful I have children living in Cape Town! By the time I got home at just before half past twelve and had just pulled Geoff's car out of the driveway, Sarah sent a message to say she was nearly at the hospital and that she would bring him home. Apparently all three (Jeremy, Michael and Sarah) got to the hospital, Sarah signed all the papers and stuff, and Michael and she arrived back here. Mikey had to practically carry Geoff down the path, he was so weak. Shame, the other night Jeremy said he's like that guy in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, where the knight carries on fighting with no arms and no legs and he says it's but a scratch! But luckily he can get from the bed to the loo holding onto the furniture, the towel rail and the basin while carrying the vac pack bag with him. I can't see him managing to walk to the lounge for quite a while though.    

Well, soon

So this last operation failed as well. Dr Landau phoned to say now they are going to put a vac pack on his head, let him recuperate and recover in ICU for a few days, and then let him come home. Once he is home he will be able to walk around with a battery-thing attached to the vac pack, and will have to see a surgical nurse every three days to have dressings changed. Looking forward to having him home again.  6th June: no longer in ICU but in a private ward. Dressing to be changed while still in hospital on Tuesday ... and then maybe he can come home Wednesday. Will have to wait and see.

And another one

 just waiting to hear how it went. The operation started at four today and it is now ten o clock. So just after I wrote that I got a call from Dr Landau - he said they decided not to do another skin graft for at least a week. This piece of stomach has very small blood vessels.