Staph Infection in the blood!

Dear Family and Friends,
Late this afternoon the lab here at the hospital and the lap, Quest, where the tests were done finally communicated and we learned Nan has staph infection in her blood stream. This evening after she had a chest xray and was taken down for a ultrasound of her kidneys the long line of antibiotics was started, 5 different ones are planned for this evening alone. This morning we met with the doctor, a young very pregnant oncologist who really knows her stuff. We asked that the shots could be stopped and she shifted to iv push 8 mg of Dilautid every 2 hours or as needed. Nan has not needed them every two hours instead stretching the time up to about 5 hours before needing more. She is primarily in another world due to the high fever and blood infection. She still knows her same but keeps asking if we can go home, get her up and out of here. Pam was with her all night last night and there was very little rest, every 45 minutes Nan was in pain. With this new routine I think we will do much better. I'm staying here tonight. My rule is when Nan is too ill to know to call for help with the call button then someone needs to be with her. Last night Pam, tonight is mine, just love that cot with its plastic mattress. This afternoon the infectious disease doctor spent time assessing Nan and noted the jerky limbs, the low blood pressure, the fevers and asked the hospital doctor to back the nurses up on the floor with spot checks to see if she was doing OK. I got to speak to that doctor, a young lady with a huge heart and her plan is to step in and move Nan to intensive care if her blood pressure drops too low. They have medicine there that can boost the blood pressure if needed. Its a good plan and is reassuring to me.
We are dealing with the fever, infection first and then we will consider introducing the new medicine to try to shrink the tumors. The oncology doctor was totally up on the drug Nexavar and says it has possibilities for Nan.
Even as I write now at 9 pm I am falling asleep. After blogging and a piece of toast last night it was nearly 2 am before I fell asleep and at 7 this morning my Nan alarm went off, wondered how she was doing, etc but waited until 9 to check in with Pam who was asleep at that point. She filled me in on the night and I worked for awhile in the office, then loaded up and drove over getting here about noon. Pam had not eaten since yesterday so we went to the cafe and found enough to satisfy us both. Then back to sit and care for Nan. Finally Pam had to leave for her work and school.
The care level has been very good today and we appreciate the level of nursing they have on this floor.
So our prayer tonight is, Lord please drive out the blood infection and restore Nan to health. Even partial health will do.
love

tim and nan

This coming weekend is my 40th class reunion for Laurelwood Academy. It is held at a wonderful hotel on the beach up in Oregon. Nan and I went once and enjoyed it very much. Today Bev wrote saying her sons had moved my album, Tim Mustard Sings, to a digital format and wondered if they could be made available at the reunion. I was so touched by her kindness. Of course anyone wanting to hear something I recorded that many years ago must really love memories. You see when I was in high school at Laurelwood during our senior year I recorded an album and included our quartet, our choir and recorded it all in the gym. Hardly professional but it sold well right up to when I ran out, that is 500 records later. It was a great experience and captured many of the young people creating music.