Changes again, and brand new ideas!

Well, the update on Brian to start...
He's home! He got out of the hospital on Friday, and is home now! It turns out that the infection hadn't spread after all, and he was just having a reaction to the penicillin! He's glad to be home, but is still very tired. He needs to take it easy for the next few weeks at least, and I think that's probably the hardest part right now. But he's home, and that's a step!

As for the new ideas...
I've got a story idea that I've been working on that seems to be moving along very well. I'm working a little every day after work (even if all I do is stare at the paper!), and I'm feeling very good about it!
But I actually had a very peculiar dream last night that gave me an idea for a story some time in the future. It was about the evolution of vampires... See, they had decided, as a race, that they just didn't have a strong enough hold on the world only being able to come out at night, so they made themselves evolve. If they first changed during the night, they became a more traditional vampire. If they first changed during the day, then they had a choice to be like a traditional vampire of to work during the day. The sunlight wouldn't burn them like it did the others, it would just make them feel very cold.
It was a very strange dream, and a lot of the characters in it were people that I know (or that I knew). Maybe next time I see you all, I'll tell you more about it! It was very interesting!

Anyways, talk to you soon!

Spoke too soon...

Well, it looks like Brian will be in the hospital longer that we thought at the end of last week.

I guess they had switched his medication to a couple different heavy duty penicillins, but they've had to switch him back to the antibiotic he was on before. While he was on the penicillin the infection started to spread again, and has now climbed above his knee. The swelling has been increasing again, and now he has a spot on his arm that seems to be starting this all over again.

In short, they're not happy with the way he's been responding to the medication, and want to keep him in the hospital until he's getting better and can be switched to oral medications instead of the IV that he's on right now.

Susie is getting very tired right now. She's in the city most of the day, is trying to make Brian's schedule is clear for the next few weeks since they don't know when he'll be getting out of the hospital, as well as working full time and trying to keep the house going. Thankfully both Matt and Steve are older now and can help and take care of themselves. Steve has been driving everyone into town in the morning, and picking them up again later, and I'm sure that he and Matt both know how to feed themselves sufficiently. I'm sure that makes everything a lot easier for Susie; I can only imagine what this would all be like for her if the boys were younger and still in school and such.

On another note... I'm home sick today, with what I'm sure is a touch of food poisoning. I think our sour cream (which I had liberal amounts of on my perogies last night) was a little off. I'm the only one who ate any, and I'm the only one who's sick. Thankfully I'm starting to be able to keep food down again, so with luck I'll be better tomorrow. I felt so bad having to call in sick at work today... They have 5 doctors in, and must be really busy. I can't help it though, and my office manager was really great about it when I talked to her. For the most part, it's a really good place to work.

Anyways, I will keep updating as we hear more about Brian.

Improvement!

Well, it's almost amazing what can happen in just a few days! Brian is suddenly showing a lot of improvement, and it now looks like he may (if this weekend goes well) be out of the hospital on or around Monday!
I guess that he's up and walking around (doing far too much, and if he's not careful he'll cause himself harm!), and the swelling is down, the fever under control, and the coughing clearing up! He really is overdoing it though; walking a lot farther than the doctors are suggesting, and then he can hardly move later. I guess that he's already talking about being back to preaching in a week or so, but Susie's not so keen on that idea (not that I blame her)!
So that's the most recent update!

Not a good week either.

Well, Brian is still in the hospital, and there has been little improvement. He's on the antibiotics, and the redness has decreased a little, but the swelling is still about the same. There's been some swelling in his other leg, actually, and we're all a little confused as to why at this point, as cellulitis doesn't jump around the body like that. His fever is still present, and they're having problems controlling it. Sometimes I guess his temperature is almost normal, but I guess that there has been a few times where it's spiked to the point that Brian was almost hallucinating. Now he's developed a cough, which the doctors say is because of how much he's been lying down. They're trying ot get him sitting up more, but he's coughing so hard he's having a hard time keeping food down.
Keep him and the family in your thoughts. We're calling Susie tonight and if anything has changed I'll update.
Also, I got stuck with something sitting on the edge of one of the sharps containers at work on Valentines Day. There's a good chance that it was a needle, so I've been in contact with the needle stick response team and had a bunch of blood work done. I have to be retested twice, in 3 months, and again in six. So far it's okay, and the risks are low, but it's better to be safe than sorry. I'll keep you updated on this as required too.
Speaking of Valentines, how did it go for everyone? Duncan and I had a quiet evening at home (after we got home from the lab anyways), where we had dinner and some wine and watched a movie. He got me these beautiful leather-bound notebooks that I've been looking at forever. They're really nice.
Oh! Our car has an antifreeze leak again! We broke down on our way home from Saskatchewan after Christmas, and had to get a hose replaced on our radiator, and now we're leaking antifreeze again! We don't know from where exactly, but dad's going to look at it on Monday when we have a day off. Hopefully it's nothing serious!

Not a good weekend.

Well, this week started out not too bad. Work was busy as usual, but nothing out of the ordinary or anything. I was feeling a little under the weather, but nothing serious; just a little stuffy and worn down, my chest a little tight and a bit of a cough.
Then I got off work early on Friday and was talking to Matt online, and everything changed.
Duncan's dad is in the hospital right now. He started having problems with his leg on Friday, went to the family doctor, who sent him straight to the hospital. They did blood tests and ultrasounds, checking for gout and a blood clot (or DVT), but both tests came back clear.
They sent out cultures, and at this point it looks like a skin infection called cellulitis. He's on IV antibiotics right now, and should hopefully start showing improvement either today or tomorrow. If the antibiotics don't work, I suppose that they may have to look at other possibilities.
It's been a little difficult. Honestly, I think the worst part for both of us is being so far away. With the long weekend coming up we're trying to determine if it might be feasible to go down there, but I think we're going to wait and see what happens.
Susie is keeping us updated, and I'll keep the blog updated. Just keep all of us in your thoughts right now.