Hooray It Was Tooth Decay!

Today Dad FINALLY had his colonoscopy!

Dad had the colonoscopy and they found nothing! Everything was clear! So all that prep and no eating for four days paid off finally. 

Since they did not find any infection in the colonoscopy it has been decided that the infection came from his tooth and spread through his whole system. They pulled it on Monday. The weird thing is that it was not bothering him at all. It never hurt so why would he think it was infected?

Since we are talking about infections and growing stuff I just want to share with all of you the license plate that was in front of me on my way home from work tonight

I am not really sure who in their right mind would want "MILDEW" as their license plate tag! I mean there really is nothing good about mildew!

Anyway...

Today Dad had a pretty good day. His kidney function is still improving and it came down another .5 which is fantastic. If the rate keeps up he will be within normal range by next week when they take out the defib/pacemaker.

I spent quite a while doing research today on infection and icd devices. Basically what it boils down to is the infection that Dad has is a form of strep. 

Here's some background:

• Subacute endocarditis -- This form of endocarditis most often is caused by one of the viridans group of streptococci (Streptococcus sanguis, mutans, mitis or milleri) that normally live in the mouth and throat. Streptococcus bovis or Streptococcus equinus also can cause subacute endocarditis, typically in patients who have a gastrointestinal problem, such as diverticulitis or colon cancer. Subacute endocarditis tends to involve heart valves that are abnormal, such as narrowed or leaky heart valves. Subacute bacterial endocarditis often causes non-specific symptoms that can persist for many weeks before a diagnosis is made.
  
  
  Subacute endocarditis develops more slowly, and its milder symptoms can be present for weeks or months before the illness is suspected.
  
  

Men develop endocarditis more often than women, and the illness is more common among people who have one or more of the following risk factors:

• A congenital (present at birth) malformation of the heart or a heart valve, or mitral valve prolapse with mitral valve regurgitation
• A heart valve damaged by rheumatic fever or by age-related valve thickening with calcium deposits
  *An implanted device in the heart (pacemaker wire, artificial heart valve)
  
  
  Basically from what I read 50% of the cases come from an oral infection like the infected root in Dad's tooth. The other 50% come from infections or abnormalities in the colon.

I am beginning to think that symptoms Dad had and that we attributed to the LVAD were actually warning signs.

*His neck has been stiff for a few months. Since he has been on antibiotics and in the hospital, it is gone.

*His appetite was awful and his weight loss apparent. This we also attributed to the LVAD pump taking up space in the thoracic region, often making patients have less of an appetite.

*His narcoleptic like sleep patterns that had developed over the last few months.

*The last sign was the one that brought him to the doctors and probably saved him was he thought he had a UTI and went in to get checked.

In my research today I also read that it is textbook to remove the icd device in cases of infection. There are no known cases that I found where an icd patient has been treated successfully with just antibiotics. Rule of thumb is take out icd, clean out infection, put back in new icd if needed. It was pretty cut and dry. So I guess the doctors know what they are talking about. I am just glad they are waiting for his kidney's to catch up first.

On the home front

This morning I woke up to this...

Brendan making razz berries at Julie and Julie looking at him, not doing them back, just staring at him like he was wacky!

Kylie took a self portrait on my phone which wasn't half bad!

Julie is trying to crawl. Right now she just scoots backwards til she hits the couch then gets up on her arms and pushes both feet off the couch to turn. Very talented, this one!

So all in all the big plan is to remove the defib/pacemaker at some point next week. If they can get the infection numbers down to where they want them he will be able to go home on IV antibiotics with a visiting nurse. That was great news all around for all of us. This weekend is tax free weekend so we are going to buy him a new recliner for the family room. Kylie will probably have to come to make sure he will like it. ( She's always stealing his chair!) 

Well folks thats all the news I have today. We are all going to visit at different times tomorrow so I will have an update as soon as I can.

Thanks to everyone who has offered to do anything we need them to do. You all have been so wonderful! The visits, cards, calls, texts, e-mails, facebook messages etc have been terrific and they are the things that are getting us through these difficult times.

Until Tomorrow,

Laurie

P.S. Happy Shark Week, I'm going to try and get in a show or two before bed :)