Long Road Traveled

As many of you know, Fred had knee replacement surgery this past April.  Since that procedure his road to recovery has been a long one.  He had a feeling after surgery that something wasn't right.  Soon there after he had gallbladder surgery (7 weeks after knee surgery).  After the gallbladder was removed, he showed signs of improvement and it seemed things were looking up.  However, a couple of weeks after gallbladder surgery, he became sick again.  Everyone was pretty sure that his symptoms were a result of his knee replacement surgery because of the pain and swelling he was enduring.  It seems that the doctors tested Fred in every possible way but couldn't give a reason for his sick condition.  Finally after 14 weeks, doctors determined that an infection was the cause.  So last Friday (August 6th), Fred went through surgery again.  During this surgery, the knee was removed and sterilized, then put back in place.  A biopsy of the infection was also taken in efforts to determine the kind of infection that had formed around his knee.  After this procedure, the recovery process was supposed to begin through therapy and a PICC line.  The PICC line will allow antibiotics to start killing the infection faster. 

 

Fred has been in the hospital since surgery.  His type of infection (Mycobacteria) has only been reported in 16 cases over the last 40 years.  Therefore, the doctors are having a difficult time determining the best way to treat him. Once the results come back from the lab (Tuesday/Wednesday), the doctors will hopefully have a better idea of which type of Mycobacteria is in his body and the best way to treat it.  The doctors have explained that the infection tends to attack foreign objects in the body, which in Fred's case would be his knee replacement.  They have narrowed down the treatments to two solutions. One way is to treat it using a combination of two types of antibiotics.  The other treatment would be to remove the knee and replace it with a spacer that would basically keep the knee free of foreign objects. This would leave Fred without the use of one leg and would require him to be on crutches for the next six months to a year.  After that time, the doctors would put the knee replacement back.  Please pray that this infection will be treatable through antibiotics.  This would allow Preacher Fred to recover quicker and return to the ministry, which we all know he loves.

Posts will be made each evening of Fred's progress.  Please continue to check and feel free to leave Fred and Patsy messages. 

God Bless and Keep the Faith!