Since my dad's foot sore is not healing, has high sugar, and now the low diastolic number, does this mean he's not getting enough oxygenated blood circulating through his body.?

Bella it isn't cynical to observe that by far the commonest reason for weird blood pressure readings is incompetence on the part of the person taking the reading. New cuff, hm? Good at fitting it yet, are they?

But then you mention two falls. Well, that could be hypotension (exaggeratedly low blood pressure). Or it could be hypo/hyperglycaemia, because his insulin/blood sugar management is all over the place. Or it could be almost anything...

Then you mention that back at the facility his blood pressure is read at 130/78. Sigh. Was he lying down?

I think you will drive yourself nuts trying to guess at all this (it's certainly making me go cross-eyed!).

Where did the congestive heart failure idea spring from? What was the root cause of his needing bypass operations previously? It's more usually arterial disease, which would also fit better with the diabetes. Low blood pressure is not diagnostic of CHF, no (the opposite, in fact, as far as I remember - the body tries to compensate for the poor heart function by raising blood pressure). Classic presenting signs are really severe breathlessness, especially on exertion, and fluid retention - which you can't miss: your feet and legs look like they've been inflated, and when you press on them with your thumb the dent stays put.

Augmentin is a new(ish) generation of amoxycillin, plus a clever chemical that breaks down the cell walls of bacteria so that they're more sensitive to the antibiotic. It's effective, but not fun to take (I know this one from my days in hospital as Cat-Bite Woman).

Also, was this pseudomonas bacterium swab cultured in the same office where you'd previously observed those abysmal standards of infection control? So it could be that your father's diabetic ulcer has been infected with this bacterium. Or it could be that it is now, because the person who took the swab was carrying it. Or it could be that they did God knows what with the swab between its touching your father's foot and being sealed ready for culture. More importantly, how is the foot looking? Better, worse or much the same?

You are right. You need to stop looking stuff up on the internet!

I hope your father copes well with the new px. But as always, what really matters is how he seems to be feeling. Worry less about what might be happening, and just concentrate on him.

And hurry along that new PCP!

A biopsy and a culture are two very different things.

Think about this. When you have a suspected UTI, they do a culture. They take some urine and place it in a little dish with some culture medium (usally seaweed jelly) and they see if any bacteria grows. Same thing with a swab from a child's sore throat, testing for Strep. A swab of the throat, the result goes into a dish to see what grows.

It sounds like what they did was a culture of dad's wound to see what will grow.

In a biopsy, a piece of tissue is excised and examined under a microscope. And yes, it hurts.

No idea about the BP stuff. Make a list of those questions to ask the doctor at dad's next visit.

One good thorough contact done correctly is usually adequate  for a culture. The qtip is then inserted in a growing medium at the bottom of a culture tube. It usually takes 48-72 hrs to get a culture result but can take longer if the bacteria is a slow grower.
Yes please ask the doctor about the blood pressure questions. You have received good information with prior responses about the wide pulse pressure.

OK I understand about the culture etc.
Do they normally do a culture first and then a biopsy if needed?

Was editing my first post and U2 answered me and I added a bunch other stuff sorry to be so confusing

Bella; WHO on earth is criticizing you?!

If I could give you one piece of wisdom from our family's journey with mom, who has vascular dementia, it's that at some point, you stop trying to fix things. There is no fixing a worn out, old body. There is only making things a bit more comfortable. No cure for old age.

If this were one of your kids with an illness, yes, you'd research the heck out of the topic and get all the latest information. But this is your old, possibly demented father, who is noncompliant with what he's told to do. Give yourself a pass.

Take care of yourself and be honest with dad's new doctor about what the likelihood is of your dad's being compliant with treatment. Ask about what level of care s/he recommends for dad; is a nursing home the place for him, since he clearly can't care for himself? Make is clear that YOU can't get him to comply and have no intention of killing yourself in the effort.

Nope I lost all my editing

Darn... was just wanting to know how far to go with all this crap

Culture results:
Pseudomonas aeruginosa
New antibiotic change:Augmentin

Still waiting to hear back from his primary regarding the low diastolic readings

"Where did the idea congestive heart failure "spring" from"?
He had a heart attack.


No worries...no more questions from me

What sort of heart attack? Was this before the bypass?