Health Update -Serious Infection

Dear friends,

Bob in desperate need for your prayers.

Last Saturday, July 31st, Bob contracted an infection in his right elbow, believed to have come from a park picnic table. That evening due to incredible swelling he went to the emergency room and received two shots, pain and antibiotic medicine. As the infection continued to worsen he went to our family doctor on Monday who again gave him two shots and different pain and antibiotic medicine. The infection continued to worsen and on Wednesday our doc sent him to an orthopedic surgeon who quickly rushed him into surgery to explore and remove infected tissue from his elbow. After that he was admitted to the hospital for serious I.V. therapy and pain management.

To make a long story short, Bob was released from the hospital today (Saturday, August 4th) because they can treat this long term infection at home. Starting this evening and every six hours he will receive an I.V. antibiotic medicine treatment and will have to do this for 3 weeks from a home health care nurse. When the cultures come back they may change his medicine but either way he must have the I.V. for this type of infection even when the strain is identified.

Aside from the pain and temperature fluctuations he seems to be doing O.K. His elbow swelling has gone down some. The infectious disease doctor and orthopedic surgeon do not want this infection to get our of control because it can be life threatening and even cause loss of limb if the infection is not cured. We feel certain that the docs are on the right track and we are trusting God for the complete recovery.

Please at this time your prayers are important and very much appreciated.

Bob and Chel