12-31-2003, Day 285, Week 40 (Wednesday)

Happy New Year to Everyone,

 This year is finally coming to an end. Marleen and I are celebrating tonight by giving Robbie his meds at 0700PM, 0800PM, 0900PM and 1100PM. Somewhere in between we will also bath and change him. We are really celebrating that he is still here and there is hope for him in the coming years.

 Now, to catch you up on the last couple of weeks events.

 On the 19^th of December Robbie’s doctor (Dr Moon) got the cultures back for the urine infection. He changed Robbie’s antibiotics so they could better assault the infection. The new antibiotics had to be given by a shot to the muscle group. What that means is an injection with an inch and a half needle to the leg. We called our next-door neighbor (who is a registered nurse) to show us how to give the shot. She came over and gave Robbie the shot instructing us on how to do it. That was at 0900pm on Friday night. At 0900am Saturday morning Robbie needed another shot… Marleen and I drew straws to see who would give him his shot…. As luck would have it Marleen lost… (Good for Me). I have to tell you she gave that shot like a pro. We then started to clean him up when his stomach tube came out. Marleen asked me what  we should do about it. I told her maybe we should put it in some peroxide and water and stick it back in. She questioned me on this so we waited for the home heath nurse who soon arrived. She said it was above her level so I called the doctor and he told us to take Robbie to the ER to have them put it back in. He said he would call the ER and let them know we were coming. He also order a PICC line to be put in too… (this line is like an IV, only a little deeper…).  He said we could give Robbie his antibiotics through this line without having to give him shots. We agreed to the placement of the line with much relief since he had 18 more shots to go. In the ER an IV nurse with assistant put the PICC line in while Marleen and I went to lunch…. (Actually they told us to get lost for 40 minutes). When we got back the PICC line was in. They then took Robbie down to radiology where they put his stomach tube back in (It takes a radiologist to put it back in…. Well Duh… I didn’t know). The PICC line takes some extra precautions when using it to keep it clean and free or blood clotting it up…. it is better than the shots for us and Robbie. That was how we spent our day on Saturday the 20^th of December.

 Monday the 22^st of December at 0800pm Robbie had a seizure that lasted for 3 minutes. Marleen was giving him his medication when the seizure started. She hurried his meds and kept him from injuring himself. During the seizure she called 911 and had him taken to the ER again. I was driving home from work when our neighbor called me. I met them at the ER. It came back that Robbie’s anti-seizure medicine level was low. He was admitted to the hospital for observation and finally released the morning of the 24^th (We thought he was going to spend Christmas in the Hospital). I had to work Christmas day so Marleen brought Robbie out to my work so we could be together. Karen was in Omaha visiting her Fiancée.

Today was the last day for Robbie’s antibiotics and on Friday he will have a blood and urine test to see if the infection is still there and his levels are OK. If they are then his PICC line will be taken out. He keeps us busy but it is worth it.

We are working on updating Robbie’s web pages and should have it updated sometime next year…. I told Marleen my New Year’s resolution is to keep up with the pages…. Hey by tomorrow I will have broken that one….

Again Happy New Year 2004…..  (if you had your calendar you would know what day it was tomorrow)….       

John, Marleen and Karen Grinnell

Just click on the link below for Robbie’s web page:

www.robbie-grinnell.com