Daniel’s Story

Site created on July 20, 2022

Welcome to our CaringBridge website. We are using it to keep family and friends updated in one place. We appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement. Thank you for visiting.

In September of 2021, Dan noticed what looked like a nasty spider bite on his lower right leg. Throughout 2021 the wound on his leg grew increasingly and did not heal, to the puzzlement of his doctors. They tried many different methods to treat it without success. The third week in June 2022, Dan was admitted to the hospital for the wound. His doctors found several blockages in the veins of his right leg and treated these with angioplasty. However the doctors concluded that poor blood flow in the lower right leg would prevent the wound from ever healing, and that an amputation would be necessary. This was, needless to say, a shock to Dan and the family.  

On June 28th Dan had his first amputation surgery, below the knee, but it took several additional surgeries and an additional amputation to above the knee before he was finally able to be transferred to a rehab nursing facility on August 4th. Since then the goal is to relearn mobility after amputation, for the wound to fully heal, and for Dan to return home. That home will be a new home at Middleton Glen senior apartments, since the old home was multilevel and not accessible. The family is working hard on going through the house and preparing it for sale. 

These events have been and continue to be extremely stressful for Dan and Sue, and the entire family. They appreciate your emotional support through friendly calls and visits. Cards and messages here on Caring Bridge are also great ways to show support. The family would also appreciate help giving Sue rides to the rehab center in Sun Prairie to visit Dan. There may be more ways to help as the family works on the move. Please click on the Planner tab to see ways you can help, and thank you!

Newest Update

Journal entry by Karen Peterson

Discharge!

Dad is scheduled to be discharged on Tuesday. He has an early morning appointment and when he leaves for that, he will be discharged from Crossroads. I will meet him at the appointment and when the appointment is over, we will head to the apartment and he will be able to stay there. We are all very excited for this next phase of his recovery - especially Dad! We have personal caregivers lined up to come in the morning and at night to help with dressing, bathing and then bedtime assistance. They also can help with some housework, laundry and meal prep, which will be wonderful. Dad will receive OT, PT and some wound care at the apartment. We have yet to find out how many days per week this will happen. Since the personal caregivers only can provide what is considered non-medical assistance, they are not allowed to assist with wound bandage changes. Dad believes he will be able to do it some, mom will try to assist and if needed we may need to bring in a private nurse to assist with this as well for any days we can't also assist. It will be a transition that will also take some getting used to for everyone. Dad has a very positive outlook on acceptance of the amputation and working to be independent. 

We are in the home stretch on clearing out the house. We are moving items that Mike and I plan to take to our places the week of Sep 19 and then Agrace is taking items for donation and our last stage is a man that does estate clean out. Then we can finish with the painting and cleaning. We are on track for listing the house on the first week of October. This has been a long and emotional project for everyone. Deciding what to part with can be hard and often filled with nostalgia and sometimes regret. Mom and Dad still have some boxes to evaluate that they were not able to make decisions about but hopefully that can be done now that Dad will be living at the apartment. Dad will be settling in but I am sure they would welcome visitors. Transportation will still be a challenge with Dad's wheelchair needing to be lifted into the car and Dad needing assistance in and out of a vehicle. Thankfully we are able to take him to appointments and there are wheelchair van options when needed. The road is not over but we are a big step closer.


Karen
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