Ingrid Update

First, thank you to ALL of you for your kind words, thoughts, wishes, and prayers. Mom appreciates them so much, as do Kirk and I. We are truly blessed by our wonderful family and friends.

The past few days have been a lot of waiting time. Mom has been seen by several different doctors for her various medical issues. Here's an update:

1. The issue that landed us in the hospital, the stomach pain, is currently being considered to be calcium deposits. This is apparently very hard to treat; the current treatment is to give mom an IV of sodium thiosulfate.

2. We still do not know why the peritoneal catheter is not working; the surgeon who placed it still has not come by to see her.

3. The podiatrist, nephrologist, and orthopedic surgeon have discussed mom's foot problem. Although there has been some healing, she has a lot of pain, and they say that the usual progression of things is that they would remove the partial toe as planned. Then, because she has so little circulation in her feet and lower leg, they would end up continuing to remove portions, trying to reach a place where tissue and circulation are healthy enough to heal. So they recommend removing her lower leg now. They asked mom to think about it and talk with family to make a decision. Mom told me tonight that she told the orthopedic surgeon that she agrees to have her lower leg removed. We are looking at probable surgery on Monday.

4. The discharge planner has started the process of applying for mom to transition to Providence Extended Care Center (PECC) when she finally is able to leave the hospital. She will certainly need rehab and physical therapy for her leg. In addition, if they are correct about their diagnosis of the calcium issue, it looks like this is a pretty serious disease that is difficult to treat.


I was asked today if mom is up to receiving visitors. The answer is "yes." Mom feels well and is up to visitors, she is just needing to stay in the hospital. She'd love to hear from and see friends.

Again, thanks so much for all your prayers.