Mishap, Cruise, and Wedding

As most of you know via e-mails, Larry fell two months ago from a high tee at the Valle Escondido golf course and shattered his right foot and ankle, requiring orthopedic surgery, two surgeons, several days in the hospital, and an anticipated months-long recovery. He was officiating a tournament at the time--not even playing--and was doing a good deed: recovering a ball for a player already shooting nine on a par three in an effort to move the game along. Although he had some pins and plates, he had very little pain and was adjusting well to a wheelchair, walker, and crutches, the orthopedic surgeon felt that he was far enough along in his recovery that I could take my scheduled and paid-for transatlantic cruise. So off I went, after stuffing the freezer with food and arranging for many people to check on him and take him to his scheduled doctor's appointments and sessions in a hyperbaric chamber to speed healing.

In the meantime, and shortly before I left on my trip, Derek wrote to advise that he and Wah Wah were getting married on June 7th while her parents are in the States from their home in Sydney, Australia. So, in addition to preparing for my cruise and driving back and forth to David with Larry for doctors' appointments and sessions in a hyperbaric chamber, I set about making reservations on Solomons Island, off the Maryland coast near Baltimore, where the wedding was to take place.

Also shortly before I left on my cruise, Trudy went into a sudden decline, requiring additional trips to David to a new highly-touted Brazilian veterinarian of the female gender. Following blood tests and an x-ray, she (Trudy) was diagnosed with an enlarged heart and impending congestive heart failure, was put on a battery of medications, some long term and some short, and was sent home with instructions to live as tranquil a life as reasonably possible (not that her life ever has been much more than tranquil).

I never knew so much would be happening, of course, when I agreed to accompany friends Penny Barrett and Betty Gray on the transatlantic cruise followed by short stays in Majorca and Barcelona. But it was a splendid getaway, and I did my best not to think too much about home. This was aided considerably by the Internet and television not working for nine or ten days of the fourteen day cruise. We were "at sea" both literally and figuratively, incommunicado except for printed news bulletins issued periodically by the crew. It was three days after Osama's demise before we learned of it, for example, and we knew nothing of the flooding of the Mississippi until we arrived in Majorca. There was nothing to do but relax, eat, read, eat, swim, eat, sun, eat, play games, eat, . . . .

Larry had some setbacks while I was gone, however, and our neighbor/housekeeper Dalys and gardener Edwin stepped in to supervise foot soaks and medications. Nevertheless, shortly after I returned we realized that the foot had become infected. He was rehospitalized for a week on intravenous antibiotics, after which he returned home and I set off for Maryland.

The wedding was lovely, a small group of immediate family and a beautiful ceremony. The newlyweds will be relocating to Richmond, Virginia, where Derek has accepted a faculty position at Virginia Commonwealth University. Wah Wah hopes to get employment with the med school there in the future, but in the meantime will continue with her stem cell research at the not-too-terribly-far-away University of Maryland college of medicine in Baltimore.

When I returned from the wedding, Larry's foot was again infected. On the advice of a local physician, Dr. Chen, who had been administering intravenous antibiotics at his office in the morning and at our home at night, we went to David the day after I returned from the wedding to meet with a critical care specialist, Dr. Julio Osorio. Dr. Chen had done a bacterial culture, and Dr. Osorio picked up the results shortly before meeting with us. He took us first out of a crowded waiting room and advised that Larry had an extremely dangerous pseudomona aeruginosa infection. He admitted him to the hospital forthwith, assembled a team of specialists, and announced within a very short time that x-rays revealed the infection to be concentrated in the "hardware" in his foot, necessitating immediate surgery to remove the pins and plates. It was scheduled for the next day.

Meanwhile, back at the house, Trudy had worsened considerably--was not eating, could barely walk, and appeared to be blind or going blind. I made arrangements for a local vet to come to the house to put her down shortly before driving to David to check on the progress of the surgery, leaving Edwin to bury her in the garden. Bad, bad day.

Following surgery, Larry was put on an intravenous combination antibiotic regime round-the-clock. After several days, another culture revealed the bacteria, which we had been told was antibiotic resistant, to still be present. Another combination of antibiotics was agreed upon by the medical team, but a third culture taken after another week revealed that not only was the bacteria still present but had gone into the bones. Everyone was disheartened and extremely worried, fearing that he faced possible amputation. After consulting with an oncological plastic surgeon in Panama City, Dr. Osorio, in consultation again with the entire team now consisting of five doctors, decided to try two more antibiotics accompanied by local daily cleaning with a chlorine-based formula. This began last Monday.

Larry learned only last night that the latest culture shows no signs of the bacteria. The doctors want to do one more culture before releasing him, however, at which time he will be on oral antibiotics for at least two months. The relief I experienced was overwhelming, and I got my first good night's sleep in three weeks. As to the break itself, x-rays indicate that it had substantially healed prior to the second surgery when all the hardware save one essential pin was removed. That remains to be seen and is, of course, a secondary consideration at this point. Also, he still faces a skin graft or plastic surgery to completely close the wound. Talk about a continuing saga--and I just gave you the highlights.

So that's why I haven't written in so long!