Home again--this blog is DONE!

Steve came home today w/ loads of antibiotics, some painkillers, and instructions to keep the leg elevated. The fever is gone, the swelling slowly ebbs, the pain is present. Tired, big time. It takes energy to fight this thing. One day at a time but he is on the mend.

Steve can update via email and telephone. Our land line is 212.477.5777 for whoever wants to call, and his personal email is steve.lipmann@me.com.

Thanks to all for your concern and support.

no IVs

Tomorrow (Sunday), after a week in the hospital, Steve will be off the IV antibiotics and switched over to oral medication. It's a good step because it increases his mobility and also signals that the infection can be controlled without big guns.

Someone mentioned going home on Monday, but so many docs flow in and out that I'm not sure what to make of that statement. I'll keep posting until he gets home.

Improvement

Steve is out of the step-down unit and on a regular medical ward. It means he's no longer hooked up to monitors, and he's well enough that the hookup was starting to irritate him--a good sign.

The leg still looks just awful, swollen and discolored, but less than it was, and the rash is no longer streaking up his leg. The fever still comes on at night, but lower. It will probably take two weeks to a month before the leg starts to look normal, and maybe longer for the swelling to entirely recede.

Steve can walk now, though he feels pain when he puts weight on his bad leg. But--another good sign--he asked the doctors when he could expect to return to work and when he could get on the elliptical machine at the gym. I wanted to yell "Slow down cowboy" but of course I am happy that he feels good enough to ask those question.

In reality Steve is still very weak. Most of his energy goes toward fighting the infection. It isn't yet clear when he will leave the hospital. Many different teams of docs flow through and say different things: perhaps IV antibiotics at home, perhaps a wait until the switch to oral meds occurs. And he'll probably be on crutches.

Keep those emails (steve.lipmann@me.com) coming.

midday Wednesday good news

The infection is under control. Very good news. We're working on getting him out of the step down room. But so far so good. Leg is less swollen, fever is still low. He's exhausted, but still, it's very good.

Third day, third move

Steve arrived at NYU on Saturday night, via a seven hour wait in the ER. He got a bed on an oncology floor (it was open) and spent Sunday and part of Monday there. The good part was that the nurses and staff were super gentle, attentive, and thoughtful, plus the visiting hours were totally free form. When you're in the Oncology unit, family is welcome anytime. But since Steve's leg problem had nothing to do with cancer, on Monday afternoon he was transferred to a Surgical floor.

I'm not quite sure if that's because a bed was available or because they thought he might need surgery--I wasn't at the hospital during the transfer.

Tuesday Steve moved once again, this time to a "step-down" unit. It's quad room where the monitoring is a bit more intense, though not quite intensive care: a step down.

The fever is lower but not gone. The discoloration and swelling aren't responding as quickly as expected. The docs feel that the progress of the infection needs closer scrutiny. It's something of a setback--this morning he seemed much improved--but heavy duty antibiotics are flowing in various combinations and when I left the hospital at around 11:30 pm, Steve was sleeping and comfortable.

He checks the email on the ipad, so send notes, letters, and interesting links to steve.lipmann@me.com.

Monday at the hospital

The fever is mostly down and the leg is less hot, but apparently we can expect it to look huge and scary for another week, maybe longer. This is a bad case of cellulitis. We don't have a clear sense of how long Steve will need to stay--my guess is at least through Friday.

This afternoon he had an episode of shortness of breath which caused a flurry of activity: the breath SWAT team descended on his room, fearing clots in the lungs. Luckily, there are no clots in his lungs, just a little fluid. That should be gone by mid-day Tuesday compliments of Lasix (a water pill).

Protocol for the leg is for the nurse to take a Sharpie pen and draw a line around the edges of the inflammation. When the redness pulls back from the line, we'll know Steve's healing.

monday at the hospital

Hi Everybody,

Since the news is out, it's just easier to do a health update blog which you can check at leisure.

The fever is down but the leg looks like something from a monster movie or a medical textbook. It is huge, red, and warm--but warm is an improvement from hot.

Not much happened over the weekend except that the infection (cellulitis) got stopped, and not a moment too soon. Steve's tired and resting and doesn't want visitors, but get-well emails should go to steve.lipmann@me.com. He has his ipad and picks up mail.