We are home tonight after being inpatient since Sunday. We started at Children's Hospital, and ended at Shriner's. Last week Raul had been experiencing a lot more pain than usual, low grade fevers, and then Sunday there was an area on his ankle that appeared may be open to tendon. We took him to the ER at Children's, and he was later admitted to the ICP (intermediate care unit). He was started on IV antibiotics, given strong medicine, and seen by many specialists. On Tuesday they decided to place a PICC line under anesthesia to administer his IV antibiotics and much needed blood (he was severely anemic, hemoglobin down to 5.9). That night he was also transferred to Shriner's hospital to seek out more advice on his wounds and wound care. Raul enjoyed being transferred by ambulance!
Unfortunately there were a lot of communication errors and changes to his care during this transfer. The days at Shriner's were very stressful. We met some very nice staff, but unfortunately they were often overshadowed by the not so nice staff and the many communication issues. Luckily they thought his wounds looked good and thought I was doing a great job with his wound care. They believed that what we were seeing was not actually tendon or bone, but maybe tendon sheath. The surgeon did not recommend doing anything at this time as he thought there would be more harm than good. Raul got his blood transfusion and two iron infusions while there as well. Tonight before discharge they decided to pull his PICC line (originally we were told 6 weeks of IV antibiotics). He is not on oral antibiotics even, but they did write a script for his new pain medicine. We are hoping they are right and he doesn't have a deeper infection, but since there was no proof either way, we will have to wait and see!
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