Please pray for my mom

My mom, Bev Pelland, has been in the hospital since last Tuesday with an extremely serious infection in her left foot.

Here is what is going on:

Monday, March 22, 2010 Night:
Mom's rheumatoid arthritis has really flared up in her left foot, the worse it has ever been. This is her first flare up since last August when her doctor put her on Enbrel. Her foot is at least twice the size it should be, is pink-red-and purple on top, and you can feel the heat coming out of the skin(which means the arthristis has flared up). Her... See More doctor, who is the absolute best, called her back around 8:30 and spent a good 1/2 hour to 45 mins. on the phone with her going over everything. He has two other people in the practice with him, but Dr. Fischer wants to see her at 9a.m. himself! He told her that it definitely sounds like a very nasty R.A. flare-up, which I assumed. He has a special ultra sound in his office for arthitis which he will use tomorrow to try to drain fluid out of her foot. Hopefully, that will work, because otherwise he said that she may have to go to the hospital for minor surgery to relieve the swelling, which she is very upset with. When Mom got off the phone she just started crying with the thought of surgery, and said she wants her Daddy!!! This absolutely broke my heart. I should also mention that we called Dr. Fischer yesterday afternoon when this started and he wasn't on call but another dr.put her on a prednisone pack.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010:
It has been confirmed Mom has an infection in her foot. Not sure what kind yet still doing tests. Grampy is on a bus and will be here in a couple of hours. Grampy's bus was late arriving to Boston so he missed the last bus to Taunton by 10 minutes. He called and told me that he was gonna get a cab I told Grampy that wasn't an option because Dad and I would drive up and get him. This afternoon Mom had xrays, bloodwork, mri, saw an infection doctor and a surgeon. The surgeon took a sample and did a ... See Moreculture, right now he doesn't think she will need surgery but will know for sure tomorrow. They also started her on a very mild iv antibiotic until the type of infection which is done by ~cooking" some of the blood samples they took.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010:
The infectious disease doctor came in while we were there. He said that so far they know that it is definitely a serious bacterial infection that has gotten into the blood, but hasn't gotten into the bones. It looks like they are hoping to get some definite answers in tomorrow or Friday as to the exact kind of infection to be able to start treating it properly. Right, now the doctor said that it looks similiar to when you have strep throat, but in the foot/ankle. So Mom will definitely be spending her birthday in the hospital.

Friday, March 26, 2010:
It has been confirmed today that the infection in her foot is a strep bacterial infection. The doctors say that she is making progress, just very slow. From what it sounded like with the infectious doctor today, is that Mom will be in the hospital still for a while. Grampy is going back to Maine tomorrow. Today we surprised Mom by bringing in a birthday cake for her birthday. I made Mom a strawberry cake with strawberry frosting.

Saturday, March 27, 2010:
Mom's about the same. The three surgeons came in this morning again, like they do every morning, and said she is still making very slow progress but it is at least progress. They also told her that due to all the medications that she is on for her arthritis it is going to take even longer for it to heal. Dr. Fischer called Mom this morning, and told she cannot take her Embrel again until the infection is completely healed up. Then her doctor isn't even sure he wants her to continue taking it since she has gotten one serious infection already.

Today, Sunday, March 28, 2010:
One of the doctors that came in this morning to see Mom told her that she is very lucky that she came into the hospital when she did, because the infection is so bad that she could have gotten very seriously sick. The infection is doing a little better, it is a very slow process. Since we got here Mom has been asking if it is supper time. Mom ordered pot roast for supper which is one of her favorites.

We have absolutely no idea when Mom will come home due to the seriousness of the infection, but she is content in at Morton Hospital in Taunton, MA. The other day Mom told me that she can stand being in the hospital for Easter, but she is scared that she may still be in the hospital when Jimmy comes up to our church for a fundraising concert on May 15th. I keep telling her not to worry about it, because it is still just over a month away, but it hasn't done too much good.

Sorry about going on for so long, but I haven't really been online much all week with spending so much time at the hospital. Thank you for any prayers.

Heather Pelland