Monday, February 27, 2012

Jo was discharged today and we got home tonight around 6. She is doing well and physical therapy starts coming to the house tomorrow morning.Looking forward to being home and eating all the good food that others are dropping by!

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Jo had two blood transfusions yesterday (Sunday) for low hemoglobin and low blood pressure. They felt like she had overdone it walking the previous day and didn't push the distance on Sunday. The original plan was for her to come home on Monday but we will see what the surgeon determines on his rounds this morning.

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Jo is up sitting in a chair this morning. She woke up to a big appetite and has had breakfast and most of her lines (drain and catheter) removed. Jo is waiting for physical therapy to get her up and walking this morning. She woke with very little pain and her doctor was here at 7 a.m. to check in on her. She will probably stay in the hospital until Monday. Dr. Reeves is very pleased with how she is doing and how stable her vital signs were during surgery and since. She will have dressing changed tomorrow so she doesn't have to worry about showering just yet!

Friday, February 24, 2012

Jo is in Room 512 at INOVA Fair Oaks Hospital. Her direct phone line is: 703-391-4512. She can soon have a regular diet!
Jo has a new hip and is in recovery now!10:25 a.m. Friday
Mom is in surgery now. She has all the same staff as when we were here on Monday. Sarah, the IV specialist, came in singing and calling Mom "The Queen" so these are all good starts to the day! Here is a picture from yesterday at Merrifield Garden Center on a beautiful day, especially for February. A couple of daffodils opened in our yard yesterday, too.

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Thursday, Feb. 23, 2012

We are heading out to the Merrifield Garden Center to sniff spring and have some lunch out today before we eat hospital food for a few days. It is supposed to be 70 degrees today! This time tomorrow Jo will hopefully be headed to recovery. Her surgery has been moved up to 7:30 am and they have the surgery room reserved for three hours. Jo says thanks for all your notes and messages. We will try to keep you posted and maybe evens endd a photo.

Monday, February 20, 2012

Jo was able to have the IV filter put in this morning. The hip replacement was postponed due to mom having some rare antibodies in her blood. They want to have four units on hold for her surgery and only two were available. They didn't want to start late in the day after obtainign the blood and no surgical suite spacewas available until Friday morning. That will actually work out better and allowed mom to not have such a long and stressful day today. However, we were all ready for Jo to be done with the pain and discomfort. She is continuing on the Lovenox injections and will probably have a femoral block form of anesthesia. Mom's allergy to morphine has been a hurdle too. We look forward to Friday!
Looks like the surgery is being postponed.  More to come.

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Grandma Jo is scheduled to have an IV filter placed on Monday morning early to prevent any further clots causing problems, either new or old clots. A radiologist will do this under light sedation. Around noon that day, the old pins that are causing the pain will be removed and the hip replacement will be done by Dr. Reeves, her orthopedic surgeon. We are starting her on Lovenax injections today to replace the Coumadin.We will do these at home twice daily. She gets to scrub with a special soap the next few days to prevent contracting skin infections. She has also quit her Centrum Silver and the anti-inflammatory she usually takes for arthritis pain. We have a constant flow of phone calls on both phones (cell adn house) as many professionals are helping to meet all the needs for medical information as well as arranging good pre-op and post-op care. We feel truly blessed that this is coming together so quickly to give Jo some relief from her discomfort. She says "Hi" to all!

Wednesday, February 15, 2012