Thu 8/9/2007 7:21 AM

Well, it is August and Dad is back in the hospital again.  I got over to see him yesterday at 4pm and I walked in, looked at him and saw this HUGE honkin' golf ball sized (like a half of one) sitting on the side of his face just below his ear.  It was very red and swollen, and the red streak went down his neck.  Our nurse, Sara, thought that he was getting the shingles on that side of his neck.  I was floored to see that much swelling in such a short period of time.

So I called his MD and she said "off to the ER."  So off we went.  The ER doctor said that the gland that swells up when you get the mumps has a massive infection.  If you look in his mouth, there is like a huge canker sore in the back of his throat.  The ER doctor said it is from him not having any moisture in his mouth due to him not getting any liquids by mouth.  Our nurses use this stuff called mouth moisturizer on/in him multiple times a day, but that is obviously not enough.

His regular MD said this is pretty bad since it came up real fast and when he was in the hospital last month, they cultured MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) out of his nose.  So there is a great potential that his sinus drainage very well could have gotten into that sore and the MRSA too if the antibiotics that he took while he was in last time didn't kill it.  He was on very strong antibiotics last time too because of his pneumonia.  She also said that he could have a very large yeast infection in his mouth and it not be the MRSA.  (Oh, MRSA is what Aunt Jay died from).

And another issue and that was the nurse replaced his urine catheter in the ER and by the time we left the hospital 5 hours later, he wasn't peeing.  Dr.D. said that the tube was most likely occluded since he was peeing before that.

I spoke with Liz this morning and she said he was peeing, that was good.  He also was looking a bit better too.  They got some antibiotics started in the ER.

Last night, after we left, he went for a cat scan.  Don't know the results yet.  Dr.D. was calling in a Ear Nose and Throat Dr. and some other Dr. that I can't seem to remember, maybe kidney.  It got late last night.

For right now he is stable.  There isn't any pneumonia, or congestive heart failure.  He still has the remains of the shingles, they at least are going away.

I will keep you updated as I learn new stuff.

Love and hugs to all of you.

Mary