Todd's First Post

Here is an email written by Todd to his family a couple of days ago. I thought I'd post it here.....

Thought I would take a minute and send an update on my condition. I'm feeling better each day and needing less medication to manage my pain. Transitional moves (i.e. getting in and out of bed/car/shower etc.) are still tough but getting a little easier with time. I've essentially been living in the recliner in our living room. I sleep in it at night and spend most of the day in it as well. Don't know what we would have done without it, but I'm hoping to get back to a real bed pretty soon.

I get around the house pretty well on crutches and I'm even doing better with "occupational" tasks like getting dressed, picking things up, etc. The secret to my success? I'm a certified owner of the Deluxe Gopher Pick Up and Reaching Tool (As Seen on TV). That's what I'm talking about!

I can pick up things without bending and it's also great for tormenting kids and dogs.

The home health care nurse comes about twice a week to check blood levels and change the PICC line dressing. The trends in my lab results generally indicate that the level of infection is dropping. So we're happy about that. We had a follow-up appointment with the surgeon on Tuesday. He removed my stitches and took a couple of x-rays. He showed us the healthy hip first. You can see a clearly defined spaced filled with cartilage and lubricating fluid in the joint where the ball and socket come together. Then we looked at the other hip. There is no space whatsoever. All of the cartilage in the joint is gone and you just see bone on bone.

We weren't really prepared for that piece of news. I expected to have a simple follow-up visit and get my stitches out. I assumed that we would have to complete the 6-8 weeks of IV antibiotics before we'd really know the ultimate condition of my hip. So it was a tough day, but now that we've had some time to process the information we're feeling OK about things. There are options, such as fusion or total hip replacement and we'll cross those bridges when we come to them. Right now, we're focused on finishing the IV treatment and clearing out the infection. I don't know that we will really know how much pain or discomfort I'll be left with until the infection is completely gone.

This morning I was reading the Book of Mormon and I was struck by the number of times that the word "patience" is used in connection with the word "affliction." For some reason, the Lord has seen fit to try our patience and our faith. We're doing our best to "cheerfully" submit to His will and learn the things that we can from this experience. It has been hard--harder than I would ever have imagined, but I take great comfort in the doctrines of the gospel. I feel so blessed to have Melissa by my side. She does so much for me that I can't imagine going through this without her--she is so incredible!

Okay, this is Melissa now. I just had to post all that great stuff about me that he wrote.....If I were him, I personally would have said more about my "charitable actions and services," but I'll take whatever I can get. Hee, hee....just kidding, honey.

So this is where we are now. We plan to see another doctor in the next couple of months and see what our options are for Todd's future. We do feel so blessed to live in a time where there ARE options. But life is so unpredictable, isn't it? You never know when trials will come, and it's so hard not knowing the outcome of those trials.....but we just have to learn to trust in our Heavenly Father and know that He has a plan for each of us. It's so hard to have faith sometimes. And that's the honest-to-goodness truth!

On a lighter note, here is a picture of a gift basket that Todd's work brought to him. It was filled with all the yummy treats that they share at work.....it was so sweet of them and it made his day. The card says, "To Todd Jones Our Beloved Boss." And the inside was filled with words of kindness and encouragement. Thanks to them!

We'll try and update as time goes on. It's been two weeks since the surgery. He's definitely improving little by little. We're just trying to take it one day at a time.....that's really all we can do.