Wound Clinic Staff Finds Staph (Sat, 5 Mar 2011)

This morning Mom's neighbors drove her into town in her Explorer for her appointment at the wound clinic. The doc had done a culture last Tuesday and the results came back positive for staph infection, which the doc said is highly resistant to antibiotics. She told mom that she doesn't think it makes sense to give her an oral antibiotic when she can directly treat the infected area instead. She prefers to use a topical spray that she applies to gauze and puts directly on the infected area, then wraps the shin. Mom said that in spite of the infection, the swelling has gone down a lot and she wished that Bill was there to see it because there is definite improvement. Today the doc didn't want to remove any more of the dead skin because of the infection, so the appointment was relatively quick, and the doc will evaluate it at her next appointment next Tuesday.

Mom also has another wound, which she described as "a small hole" above her right wrist. She said, "Jana got between me and the stove and I went down on the carpet, and my skin is so DUMB that scraping on the carpet made a hole." Yikes. Scary to think that her balance is so precarious. During my visit this coming week I am going to bring up the subject of a walker or at least a cane, and see if she might consider it. We tried that last spring when she was having the syncope episodes, but she said that the walker took up too much room, and although she let me bring Ray's old cane out of the closet, she kept leaving it leaning in various places and walking off without it. Maybe she will be more receptive now.

Talking about her fall on the carpet led into a discussion about Jana. Mom says "the dang dog has gone back to her childhood." Apparently Jana (who is 14) has been going into the bathroom and stealing tissues out of the wastebasket, taking them out into the living room, and tearing them up. What fun!! Mom says she has to keep both wastebaskets up on the counter to keep Jana out of them.

After her wound clinic appointment, Mom and her neighbors went to Elmer's for brunch. Mom had crab cakes (YECCCHHHHHH!). She said the food took forever to come, but it was very good, and they had "a fun, fun time." Then they took her to Fred Meyer to do some shopping, and she was very enthusiastic about Freddy's two new motorized carts, which she described as "fantastic!" I am not sure what elevated them above all other motorized carts, but she really thought they were excellent. When they got back home her neighbors brought her groceries down to the cabin for her and helped her get them put away.

I will be driving down to RP tomorrow. My last visit was at the end of October, four and a half months ago, so it'll be interesting to see the comparison.