Spring Showers

During an afternoon of pouring rain, Andre and I prepared for a bridal shower we were hosting yesterday evening. Lots of cleaning, scrubbing and tidying to be done at our house! Since vacuuming isn't quite his thing at the moment (!), Andre opted to chop things instead. And because Mexican food was on the menu, there was quite a bit to slice. Many bowls of lettuce, tomatoes, limes and bananas later, we were ready. Twenty adults, three toddlers and two infants showed up; burritos were eaten, margaritas drunk, presents opened and one IV given--the evening was a success!

Easter Sunday

Today we became members at ChristChurch! And celebrated afterwards with our friends Hannah and Steven who also joined the church today, along with all our parents.

IV's and Orchids

Thanks to all our friends and family who have shown us such love and care lately!
Andre is feeling much better, thanks to your prayers and so many cards...


...gifts...

...and two of these a day!

He will be on the IV for 6 more weeks and then will be evaluated to see if he can handle another ACL surgery in about 3 months. We are both feeling better now that he's over the worst of the infection and enjoying the lovely Spring weather. A blessed Easter to you!

Saying goodbye to "Bob"

Well, "Bob" the cadaver in Andre's knee is officially dead and buried! Andre just had surgery this afternoon, during which they removed it and cleaned out his knee.

We thought the surgery was only going to be on Friday which seemed a long way off considering the increased pain Andre was in Sunday and yesterday. However, the doctor's office called today and asked him to come in for another doctor to look at him. As soon as he examined Andre, he said that he wanted to schedule the operation for today! Praise the Lord!

So he went in at 4:30 and is apparently just waking up now. The doctor came out and told me that Andre is doing fine, that "Bob" was not (very infected), and that all should be well as far as the pain in a few days!

We will continue with the IV antibiotics for up to 8 weeks, twice a day and Andre will go through some rehabilitation therapy to get him up and walking a bit again. They will reevaluate him again once he's finished the IV course and hopefully schedule another ACL recontruction surgery in 3-4 months. Keep praying for him as the pain, combined with the infection is really tiring.

Andre's Mom is coming to Atlanta tomorrow until the weekend, so that will be a big help and I feel comfortable being able to leave him during the day. Thank you again for all your prayers and calls/emails...it's been a great encouragement for Andre.

Nasty turn of events!

Not been in touch with most of you this week due to the craziness that has been going on! Sorry about that friends.

Thank you for your prayers for Andre. During the second operation on Wednesday, the surgeon took some samples of the tissues in the knee. The lab results came back on Thursday afternoon, with a diagnosis of a severe infection called MRSA. We went in to see the doctor on Friday morning for a post-op and were told that he was to go to hospital that afternoon for a PICC line to be put in (a permanent IV post/needle) and then he would have to have IV antibiotics morning and evening for up to 8 weeks in order to get rid of the infection.

By Friday evening, the PICC line was in, the home nurse had come to our house, and I was learning to give Andre an IV every 12 hours! This being Sunday, I feel I'm an old hand at it, but the first couple of times were rather nerve-racking!

As of last night, the surgeon has decided to perform another operation, this time to remove the ACL cadaver, on Wednesday. He believes it may be infected and doesn't want to risk using that one. Then for two months, Andre will be on the IV antibiotic. After that, they will hopefully be able to do another ACL replacement, like the first surgery. So, much longer and more tedious recovery than at first anticipated!

Please keep praying for both of us. Thanks!

Surgery #2

Today went well. Andre's surgery, which took just over an hour, went well and the knee is not as badly infected as the doctor feared. It's all cleaned out now and thankfully the ACL replacement was not compromised at all.

Here's a photo of Andre this afternoon (after a good nap!), home again and feeling a lot more comfortable. Sorry for the sideways view--couldn't seem to rotate the photo!

New developments...

Well, with a week of good progress, we were hopeful for a swift recovery for Andre's knee...but...it was not to be! After a weekend of bad pain and a high fever, we discovered this morning that he has an infection in the knee, as well as one of the incisions. So, back to surgery tomorrow at 6:30 am! The doctor will be going into the knee again, this time to clean it all out, as well as try to fix the incision. That, plus a strong course of antibiotics, should get him back on track again.

This is a rather major set-back for him, as another general anesthetic will take a while to recover from, and he cannot do any physical therapy until the infection has cleared up.

Please keep him in your prayers! He continues to be in good spirits and is a wonderful patient despite all the pain. Thank you for all the emails and phone calls!