The Elbow Saga

Many of you know that Kevin recently had a mysterious infection set in to his elbow.  The saga has not finished, but I thought I'd share the story as of the current day:

Thursday night, February 24: He started to have sharp pain in his left elbow in the evening as we sat quietly at a Mongolian concert full of traditional Mongolian music.


Friday, February 25: Kevin's elbow begins to turn red and swollen.

Friday morning, February 25: He woke up with pain in his elbow, and it looked red and a little swollen. He canceled an early meeting & called SOS, a "western-style" clinic here in UB, to see about a possible Dr. appointment. He made a 3 pm appointment, hoping the pain would go away as the day progressed, and he could cancel it later.  He met with Josh (a teammate) for lunch and when he got home felt achey and worse in the elbow and decided to keep the Dr. appointment.  The doctor diagnosed this as possible bursitis.  He was given an anti-inflammatory and told to call if it got worse.  By 9 pm, the redness and swelling had spread and he was feeling body aches.  We called the doctor at home, who said he wanted to meet us back at the clinic in a half hour.  I knew that's what we needed to do, but was also dreading getting a taxi at 9 pm, in the dark, in the cold.  Someone knocked on our door.  It was Larry, a basketball coach here in town whom we've recently met.  He was visiting our neighbor, and was knocking on the door to give us his new phone number.  We asked him if he had a car; he did, and he gave us a ride to the clinic.  Wow!  What a provision!  Not a necessity, but a blessing!  The doctor saw Kevin at the clinic and decided to start two kinds of antibiotics by IV, and have him stay overnight.  I called our director and his wife so they could escort me back home in a taxi later in the night.  They were very encouraging to have around.



IV Antibiotics were started at the UB SOS Clinic.



Saturday, February 26:  The infection on Kevin's arm kept spreading some, but then stopped.  It was decided that he should stay in the clinic for the night and keep receiving IV antibiotics.

Sunday, February 27:  Kevin felt somewhat better. The infection was on about half of his lower arm, but it did not spread during the night. Dr. Tom decided to release him and leave an IV entrance in his arm so he could come back at 7 pm for more IV antibiotics. However, at 3 pm we called Dr. Tom saying Kevin was feeling more body aches and that the infection was visibly spreading again. We went back to the clinic and he was admitted again; two extra antibiotics were started and his arm was xrayed to make sure the infection hadn't spread into his bone.  The xray looked good.  Around 5-6 pm, Dr. Tom decided that Kevin should be moved to another hospital in another country for two reasons: the possibility that his arm might need surgery and that UB didn't have enough different drugs/strong enough drugs.  Plans were made to go to Seoul, Korea the next day. 




Our first-ever ride in an ambulance--getting from the hospital to the airport.

Monday, February 28:  Kevin woke up tired. The infection had not spread, but also did not get better. Found out the flight would be around 3 pm. Shirley (SOS nurse/manager) would escort us. Kevin would have an IV during the trip and receive antibiotics and I would also be allowed to go along. At the airport, Korean Air didn't know ahead of time that Kevin had IV drip and was not going to let him on the plane with it. We decided to have it taken out so he could get on the plane. Shirley said that maybe when we got to the hospital, they would put one in and resume antibiotics.  So, the IV was taken out, we boarded the plane, flew, and took an ambulance to the hospital and then NOTHING happened until the next day at the Korean hospital.  This was rather frustrating and appalling to us.

Tuesday, March 1: We didn't see a Dr. until about 11 am (about 12 hrs after arriving), and he was given his first IV at 1 pm (about 22 hrs since his last IV antibiotics). This seemed rather non-proactive to us!



We took this photo the first morning at the Seoul, Korea, hospital as a record of where the infection was.  The black line was drawn around the infection at the SOS clinic Saturday.  The red line was drawn at our home Sunday before returning to the SOS clinic.  There is redness outside the red line as of Tuesday morning at the Korean hospital.

 Wednesday, March 2 through Friday, March 4: continued IV antibiotics 4 times a day... saw improvement on the skin around the elbow.
Saturday, March 5 continued IV antibiotics 3 times (1 am, 7 am, 1 pm).  Kevin was released at 1 pm.




The computer station I used during the week at the Hilton Hotel in Seoul.  This is where I kept family up to date on Kevin's progress.




Here's the very nice lounge down the hall from my hotel room.  Breakfast was included, as was evening appetizers, so my meals were very easy while in Korea.  Our "Evacuation Insurance" included my stay at this hotel to accompany Kevin.  Amazing!  Let's just say, I wasn't "roughing it".

Saturday, March 5-Tuesday, March 8 We stayed at Grand Hilton Hotel.  Kevin basically was sleeping, eating and taking oral antibiotics... didn't leave the hotel but just rested, his skin around his elbow continued to go back to normal color....but his elbow continued to be slightly swollen, red, warm; he kept his arm elevated, resting, and going on short walks around the hotel to begin gaining his energy back.

Tuesday, March 9: Travelled back to UB.

Thursday, March 24: As I write this, Kevin has been off antibiotics for 4 days and his elbow continues to slowly heal.  For most people, there would be no residual affects left by now, it sounds like.  However, it's not totally back to normal yet for him, and we're waiting for that to happen.  We're just thankful that it didn't get worse, as this is the type of infection that if it gets out of control can threaten your limb or life.  As for how he contracted this infection, the only clue is that perhaps it got into his system through a routine dental teeth cleaning in Thailand a couple weeks before the symptoms started.  This could happen in any country.  The situation in Thailand was clean, but was definitely the most painful cleaning either of us has ever had, being poked many times in the gums as the dentist cleaned our teeth.  Next year's Thailand conference will not include a dental visit to this dentist.  However, we're not blaming her for the infection...just not feeling like ever going back! 

Healing continues.....