Dad's New Treatment

Since Dad's white blood cell count has not been going down, Dr. Kim called in an infectious disease specialist. Today Dr. Eron stopped by to check on Dad. Dr. Eron also checked Dad's previous hospitalizations in 2003 and 2014; the old records show he had a Staphylococcus aureus infection in his left leg. Fortunately the previous cultures showed it is not the methicillin-resistant variety. They are now treating him with Ceftriaxone; they have stopped all the other antibiotics. After just one treatment, Dad's appetite was better at dinner.

This is the most stew Dad has eaten since he's been at the hospital. He also ate all the Magic Cup.

Dr. Eron also said that Dad has severe arthritis in his left hip joint; he thinks that is causing a lot of the referred pain Dad says he has in his right knee. This morning Dad stood up at the side of the bed for Ray the occupational therapist but wouldn't do any walking at all. When Kevin the physical therapist came in the afternoon he wouldn't even get out of bed for Kevin. We are wondering if they should change his pain management strategy and give him the pain medication on a regular schedule to keep it from getting really bad; perhaps that will make it easier for him to feel like doing the occupational & physical therapy.

For both lunch & dinner I had Indian butter chicken. The lunch one was from one of the Farmers Markets vendors that sell food during the market on Wednesdays; the other was from the Sunrise Cafe. The one from Sunrise Cafe was better than the one from the farmers market. It was almost as good as the butter chicken from Boondockers Restaurant, the Balas old business; I would get this again. (Although my favorite was Boondockers mango chicken.) I would pass on the one from the farmers market and try something else.

Lunch time Butter Chicken from farmers market.

Dinner time Butter Chicken from Sunrise Cafe; I went too late & missed out on the naan.

My insulated travel mug is having problems after 2 days of use. I have not immersed the cup but there is moisture between the 2 layers; it is soaking in to some parts of the decorative paper liner. I'm not sure how the moisture is getting in.


I am trying to get some of Dad's old medical records from Tripler Army Medical Center in regards to his leg wound from World War II. Curtis & I can remember him having to go in every year or so in the 1960's to have the wound drained. Then one year a new surgeon tried a new procedure and Dad didn't have to get it drained again. Unfortunately, we were so young we can't really remember any details about it. I left a message this afternoon with their records department, then I followed the directions to get on their website to access forms for the records request. The forms are available on-line but can't be filled out on-line; I have to print them, fill them out, scan them, and e-mail them back. Then it will take 40 to 60 days to get those records! It's a good thing Dr. Eron has almost instant access to the old Kaiser records!

Really? 40-60 days? No wonder people are complaining!

While wandering around, doing my hourly 250 Fitbit steps, I ran across a notice about how germ-laden cell phones are. I knew they were hotbeds for germs so I would clean my phone with hand sanitizer before going in to Mom's hospital room and regularly at home. The reminder I found was part of a station with a container of wipes specifically for sanitizing your phone! So I did!

The traffic jam getting out of the parking garage was even worse tonight than it was before.

This line went all the way around the corner.

On another note, I transported a manu-o-ku this morning before going to the hospital. Cindy had found it on the grounds of her condominium in Waikiki when it was just a down-covered chick. She fed it and kept it until its feathers came in and she could tell it was a native species, then she contacted the Hawai'i Wildlife Center.

Gygis alba rothschildi (white tern).

Happy Birthday to Alvin & Aleta! And Happy Pi Day!