Peter's unexpected passing

What a shock it has been for us all. Peter passed away on Monday 16 November. He seemed to be in such good health and was really looking forward to visiting Kevin, Josie and his grandchildren in Sydney in December. His funeral service will be held on Thursday 19 November 2009 (Time: 13h00) at the Maitland Crematorium Chapel,Voortrekker Road, Maitland. Please post any condolence messages on this blog for Ronnie, Kevin and the family.

Jeanette Anne Lategan (15 Jan 1933-10 May 2009)

Jeanette's funeral will be held in Cape Town on... Date: Friday 15 May 2009 Time: 11:00am Where: Maitland Crematorium Chapel,Voortrekker Road, Maitland. Please post any condolence messages on this blog for Peter and the family. "To live in the hearts that she leaves behind is not to die" ~ Thomas Campbell

A peaceful passing

Jeanette passed away at 2.30pm today, 10 May 2009 (Mothers Day). The clinic sister said that she had laid down for a nap after lunch and when the staff went to wake for tea she had passed on.

Jeanette transferred again

Seven weeks have passed since Jeanette was transferred to the Oasis Frail Care. Peter has visited her daily and has been in consultation with her doctors on a regular basis on her rehabilitation process. Unfortunately Jeanette's health has deteriorated rapidly and Peter has had to make the hard decision to transfer her to a permanent frail care facility, under the advice of all her doctors. She was transferred by ambulance today to Sea Park Retirement Village, Frail Care Section. It is a ten minute drive from our home along the Cape West Coast.

Jeanette transferred to Frailcare

It has been four weeks since Jeanette injured herself and was hospitalised. She developed pneumonia during this period and became bedridden and terribly weak. Her physician has now recommended that she should be transferred to a frail care rehabilitation clinic where she will be able to recuperate and regain her strength. Today, she was transferred by ambulance to the Oasis Frail Care Clinic (next to Century City) and she is well and in good spirits. We are hopeful that this will be a temporary stay and she will be well enough to come home again soon.

Jeanette's injuries

Jeanette had a tumble in the bathroom at 3am this morning and managed to cut her forehead from hairline to the bride of her nose. In addition, she managed to twist both her feet under the basin vanity cabinet, causing a golf ball size swelling on the top of her right foot and a surface cut on the left one. Peter and I cleaned her up, dressed her wounds and put an ice compress on her foot. At 9am when Peter woke her up for breakfast her left eye was now bruised, puffy and blue and the swelling on her foot had trebled in size (now the size of a tennis ball). We immediately took her to the casualty section at Netcare Blaauberg Hospital. She was given stitches on her forehead and the hematosis was drained (No broken bones thankfully). She was seen by a surgeon and he recommended that he should take her into surgery, sterilise the wound completely and give her stitches. She is being kept in hospital for observation to ensure that no infection sets in.

Peter's follow-up

Peter went for a checkup with his cardiologist today. His blood pressure still drops between 140/80 (resting) and 80/50 (standing), which results in the dizzy spells. This is still not acceptable so the Doctor has increased the dosage of his blood pressure medication. Peter also has to constantly wear stretch stockings (VERY tight) to assist the blood flow back up to the heart. The Doctor has said that he does not want to consider doing the pacemaker unless it is absolutely necessary, that is, he wants to take the less invasive route if possible. So, for now we are back into the "wait and see" mode. He is still continuing on the antibiotics as his infection has not cleared up completely. During one of Peter's numerous falls (about 3 weeks ago), he injured his shoulder. This injury is still bothering Peter and he has lost a lot of strength and movement in the arm. We now need to take him to see a sports injury specialist who hopefully will be able to find what has caused the problem. Other than all of that he seems to be improving ... gradually ...(said with guarded trepidation!)

Watch this space!

As I mentioned before, the Cardiologist will not do the pacemaker procedure until Peter is completely infection free. His infection still has not cleared up as quick as we had hoped. So believe it or not, Peter has been discharged ... that's right, again! Can you see the sense in being transferred by ambulance from one hospital to another, just so that he can be discharged. If you understand then please explain it to me? Anyway, he has to see the Doctor again on Thursday to see if the infection is improving. So, as they say in the classics ... Watch this space! Or, to coin Peter's favorite phrase, this is driving us "Uncle Willy"

Now in Medical ICU

Yesterday, Peter was transferred by ambulance from Milnerton Medi-clinic back to Vincent Pallotti Hospital. He is now in their Medical ICU section. His Cardiologist has decided to insert a pacemaker to help regulate Peter's heart rate. At the moment he has a slight infection from the initial operation. They cannot perform the procedure until he is infection free, so they cannot tell us exactly when the pacemaker will be fitted. I will keep you all updated as soon as we hear when it will be done.

Once again to ICU

It is a good thing that this blog has a kept a record of events as they have happened over the past 3 months. It is really hard to believe how quickly things have happened and how often things keep repeating themselves.
As in Peter’s own words, he has been feeling “up to sh*t” this past week and he is “worse now than he ever has been before”! He is still battling with the dizzy spells, weakness and black outs followed often by collapsing! The cardiologist said that it is being caused by a quickened heart rate / fibrillations / palpitations.
Yesterday afternoon I took Peter back to see Dr Pillay (cardiologist). He was not happy with Peter’s condition and so once again Peter has been admitted to Milnerton Medi-Clinic ICU. The Doctor has assured us that he will get to the root of the problem this time and that Peter will not be discharged until he is stabilized … completely … I’m not sure if we can believe Dr Pillay but we’ll watch this space in anticipation!

Jeanette's health

Last Thursday, Peter asked me to take Jeanette to Milnerton Medi-clinic emergency as her health has been declining and we were all becoming very concerned. After numerous blood tests, X-rays and examinations the doctor told me that there was no medical reason for her to be admitted to a hospital bed. The symptoms that he had observed during his examinations could be directly attributed to her Chronic Dementia. He said that the family should understand that her health and cognisance will continue to decline in the months and years ahead; eventually she is going to require 24 hour nursing care.
Our cousins Elize and Corrie arrived from Johannesburg on Thursday evening to visit Jeanette and Peter for the weekend. It was a wonderful tonic for Peter to see them again but Jeanette was not well enough to appreciate their visit. It was so refreshing for Ronnie and I to catch up with their news and to have their additional ‘shoulders’ to lean on during this difficult time!

Why?

"Why...?" is what Peter asked me tonight. "Why did it take them so long to find out what was wrong?" "Why was there no communication between my doctors?" "Why did I have to go through all of that?" How can you answer those questions? In the past fifty four days he has been referred from his GP to a Specialist Physician to a Neurosurgeon to a Cardiologist to a Cardio Surgeon and back again to his Cardiologist. Yet they don't seem to keep each other informed on their patient's progress or problems ... Why? Ronnie took Peter back to his GP today to see what could be done about his arm injury (the one that he got when he collapsed on Saturday). Peter asked his GP this very same question ... his GP also couldn't answer him! In today's day and age of instant information sharing and communication technology how hard can it be? I want to scream at someone (to put it mildly) but where to start ... that's the question?

At Last!

It’s as if someone has flicked a switch and … Voila … Peter is back on track and finally on the road to recovery. He was discharged late yesterday afternoon but we were very skeptical and wondered how it could be possible for him to improve in such a short time frame … especially considering all that has happened lately. He has been taken off all the medication and was rehydrated (on a drip) for 24hours and miraculously he is feeling much better

Re-admitted to ICU

Yes, unfortunately Peter is back in hospital. He has been collapsing frequently and on many occasions gets a bruise or scratch in the fall. Yesterday morning, he hurt his neck and arm in another fall but refused to let us take him to hospital. When he fell again this morning he agreed to be taken to casualty at Milnerton Medi-Clinic. His cardiologist was called and he has admitted Peter to ICU... again! The initial prognosis is that his blood pressure is unstable but the reason is unknown. He has been taken off all his medication, put onto a drip again and will be monitored in ICU for the next few days.

One month later

It has been a month since Peter's operation was done. Things are much the same... he is fine but not recuperating as well (or as fast) as he had hoped!
He will be seeing his Cardiologist next week for his one month follow-up consultation. Hopefully he will get his "Oomph" back soon so his frustration levels can start subsiding.

Jeanette is not well

Jeanette's has not been well this week. She has been listless and disorientated and all she wants to do is sleep the day and night away. We all encourage her to try to be more active and move around, but without much success. If she is still like this next week Peter may suggest that she should be taken to see her doctor.

Recovering slowly

Jeanette’s wheel chair has been very useful since Peter came out of hospital as he cannot walk unassisted. He tries to walk on his own when we aren't around, but 9 times out of 10, he lands up collapsed on the floor … he is so frustrated with this slow recovery process, he never expected that it was going to take this long! Ronnie decided to take a few days off work to remain with him at home and help him where possible. Peter had to see Dr Vosloo again yesterday for a follow-up consultation. He has had more X-rays taken and more blood tests. She has altered his medication slightly but she has assured us that his recovery process is normal for his age.

One day at a time

Peter has not been very well since being discharged on Tuesday. He tries to walk short distances on his own, but whenever he tries to do this (when we aren't watching) his legs collapse under him. We contacted Dr Vosloo once again this morning and took him to see her at Christian Barnard Memorial Hospital. Her advice to him was "Walk only when assisted and keep these walks very short ... 3-4 steps at a time ... take things slowly, one day at a time!". Xrays were taken and she found that he has a bit of fluid around his lungs and heart. She assured us that this was not unusual and has prescribed additional medication to remedy this. She also put him onto an antibiotic for an infection that he has on his arm; it developed when one of his drips leaked (tissued) into his arm in ICU and it has caused a very nasty infection and swelling. Thankfully, over the past few days, Jeanette has been quite well. She has been so amazing... attentive and concerned for all aspects related to Peter's comfort, care and recovery.

Discharged ... from ICU!

As unbelievable as it sounds, Peter was discharged today ... straight from the ICU ward. He is now at home but he is very weak. I had to bring him into the house using Jeanette's wheel chair as he almost collapsed when he tried getting out off the car ... quite a nerve wracking experience! We will keep a close eye on him over the next few days and hope that the home surroundings will help with a speedy and complete recovery.

Peter's ICU frustration

Peter was hoping to move back to the general ward today (Sunday) but the doctor has insisted that he continues to be monitored in ICU. He was disappointed to hear this as, in his own words, he is "getting frustrated with the system". He does not have access to his cellphone in ICU, however if you want to call him on the hospital line they will put your call through to his bedside ... I am sure that he would appreciate some calls, the only restriction is that calls are not allowed between 12h00-14h00 and 21h00-08h00. The switchboard number is +27-021-506-5111, just ask to be put through to Surgical ICU. Jeanette has not gone to visit Peter in hospital as he did not want her to stress over the operation or his recovery process, but she has spoken to him on the phone as often as possible. She has been doing very well at home. The nurse (Aleta) and Jeanette's friend Lydia have had their hands full during the weekdays but they are keeping Jeanette occupied and happy. Then I take over in the evenings and over the weekends. Lydia will be returning to Johannesburg on Tuesday ... she is definitely going to be missed!