Today was a semi-quiet day. I say that mostly because Peyton has been sleeping almost the entire day. I think yesterday was pretty difficult for her with her new leg issues. Her day today did not start off well either. She was awakened only to go right into her respiratory treatments. She was not wanting any part of that this morning and we all knew it. Poor baby. Fortunately, her repositioning in bed and her treatments coincided with her dose of morphine, so I hoped she wouldn't be feeling too much pain for long. Between her leg and her shoulder being constantly dislocated, I feel so awful every time I have to move her in any way!
This is Peyton's leg as of this evening:
There's not a huge change from this morning. In fact I would say that there has been no change today. Between last night and this morning, though, I would say that it may be every so slightly improved in that it is not as "angry" looking. It's definitely red. It's also still pretty warm. It also looks more inflamed. There is still a lot of concern for her leg. If there is an infection present, we have no way to know how deep the infection runs. Is it just in the tissue or does it go into the muscle or the bone?
The attending decided that we should probably have the doctor from Infectious Disease take a look and give his opinions. We go way back with this particular doctor. In fact, he goes to our church so we see him fairly regularly. A year or two ago, Peyton had gone through a period of respiratory illnesses which would not go away no matter what course of antibiotics we tried. We say the ID doctor and he took care of her for a while. Now he is back on her case with this leg issue. The thing with the leg infection is that if it is just in the tissue, it's a 10 day course of antibiotics. If it is in the bone, then it means 8 weeks of antibiotics. So, they definitely want to figure out where the infection lies as there is a huge difference in the treatment plan. The problem is that right now there is really no great way to figure this out. Peyton is not a good candidate for sedation right now, and if she were to have an MRI, she would most likely require sedation. She isn't moving that leg around a whole lot, so maybe there is a way they can try without sedation. I don't know. They will speak with whomever they need to speak with to figure out the best course of action for Peyton. Right now, her leg is a main priority and, as far as the main resident is concerned, we're not out of the woods with her leg yet.
Just before the ID doctor came in, one of the people from the Hands of Hope hospice program stopped in to check in on Peyton. She can't be officially admitted into the program until she is discharged to home, but she wanted to check in and see what has been going on since we last spoke.
Many thanks, again for all the love, prayers, support, and so on. We truly appreciate everything everyone is doing. If you are new here, welcome. And thank you for your prayers for Peyton!
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