[Gathnet] Anne's situation

[stuart gathman]

Dear Gathnetters,
We want to thank you all for your prayers for Anne's recovery over the 
last many months.   I just want to ask for your continued prayers and to 
let you know of the latest situation.

On Tuesday, we saw the doctor.  He was extremely tired and we saw him 
about 2 hours after our appointment time.  He looked at it and was 
disappointed in  the progress of the wound healing.  He at first thought 
about grafting the wound but thought better of it when he thought about 
all of the other "stuff" that would go on.  He said to just keep on what 
we were doing and to see him in another 6 weeks.   He also ordered the 
continuation of the PT for another 8 sessions.  But he really frightened 
me when he said something about making sure Anne's home care was covered 
by insurance and that we didn't want a huge bill at the end of the 
year.  Well,  I got in touch immediately with the accounting office at 
the hospital and was assured that medicare is handling this home care 
stuff.  I also asked (just in case it didn't) what the daily cost of a 
visit by a home care nurse.    They said $260.00!!!!!!!
We have had lots of visits by the home care nurses so this is the reason 
I am a bit edgy on the subject.   The nurses of course don't get any 
where near that much but all the other stuff really adds up.  This is 
still a lot cheaper than staying in the hospital for weeks at a time.  
The last stay in the hospital for Anne was about 10K of which Pacificare 
and Medicare took most of the bill thank the Lord.

Today,  Thursday,  we had both the wound care nurse and the PT nurse 
come by.  Anne is doing well as far as using her leg now.  The bending 
of the bad leg is still about 15 degrees off and she needs a walker to 
get around but she is improving.  The part of the thing which concerns 
me is that she still has about 1/2 square centimeter of bone showing.  
The wound care nurse saw no improvement in the last two weeks.  It just 
seems to have quit growing over.  The skin comes down to the bone, but 
doesn't seem to want to grow over it.    This then says that we continue 
the treatment and she has to continue to take the antibiotic medicine to 
prevent bone infection. and we have to keep it clean and wrapped up to 
protect it.

Anne is now doing a little puttering around the house cleaning up after 
her messy husband.  She grumbles a lot but I think that is a good sign.


So,  we still need your prayers.

Love,  Stu