Declining

Even though Dadaee has been home for nearly a year now, the last several months have been increasingly difficult. It started in September. When we returned from France, he was in the hospital due to a recurring infection in his bladder. This resulted in the "eating away" of his hip bone which has left him unable to walk or even put any weight on this side of his body.

Unfortunately, he's been pumped full of so many antibiotics over the past two years, that he's become resistant to all but two. At that time, surgery was deemed iminent. This would actually involve two separate procedures: one to place antibiotic beads into this cavity, and a second for a hip replacement. Due to his age, resistance, and weakened condition, the surgery was postponed, and antibiotics have been administered through his neck for the last four months.

We noticed when visiting over the holidays that his mental state has severely declined. After Thanksgiving, he was taken off one of the two antibiotics, which helped ease the situation slightly. At Christmas, he was disoriented or sleeping most of the time. However, he would occasionally surprise and delight us all with complete coherence from time to time. Sadly, this has not lasted.

As of New Year's Day, he had severely declined again, to the point where we have had to revert to 24-hour home care (as opposed to 16 hrs) and yesterday he was put in the hospital for lots of tests. They decided to take him off the one antibiotic he'd still been on, and have informed the family that these antibiotics can have adverse effects on the brain.

To answer the reader's unasked question, it's not as if there was much of a choice. But no, we were not sufficiently informed of these potential risks. Still, he might have died from the infection, or from surgical complications if he'd had the surgery earlier. One just never knows.

So, it's been difficult for me to concentrate the past few days. Still we are very lucky to have him. I just hope he is okay in the hospital.

Julie