Update

Before he was discharged from the hospital on Monday evening, this is what my husband’s arm looked like. Each day, the nurses circled the red area on his arm. Monday morning, an infectious disease doctor examined him. He said that the antibiotics should have taken care of the infection within 24 hours. He seems to think that the vaccine was contaminated. He is recalling the vaccine that was used. A Picc line was inserted into Marion's other arm. He will continue to receive the antibiotic intravenously and orally now that he is home. When we were told that home health care would visit us on Tuesday, we assumed they would be giving him his medication. Imagine our surprise when she informed us that she would teach me to give him his medication. We put on laytex gloves and she proceeded to teach me the librarian how to administer a drug intravenously. We sat at the kitchen table. Rusty thought we were eating so he kept barking at us. Much to his disgust, we put Rusty in the backyard. While I was doing one part of the procedure, the oven timer went off. We had to have the home health lady take the cornbread out of the oven. Marion wanted corn bread for supper. Of course, I had her write the steps down for me. I’m usually pretty good at following written instructions. All my nurse friends, please be on stand-by around 6:00 tonight, just in case I need a tutorial. While Marion was having his blood pressure checked, our friend Kathy came to visit. Of course, Rusty is back in the house by then, barking up a storm. It was like a zoo. The best news is that the antibiotics seem to be working. Marion is at home and resting. He is watching his TV programs and setting his own pace. He can’t return to work until the end of next week. He is very glad to be home and sleeping in his own bed, resting in his own recliner and eating “my” cooking.