Poot!

Yesterday we were VERY excited to be moved back down to the 5th floor... Moving down was a move up toward getting out of here. Joe's platelets and hemoglobin are still steady, or were at last check... (yep... she just came in and said last CBC she took a bit ago is still holding, so no more bleeding)

He was so excited to be able to eat again yesterday after no food since the tiny bit of toast at home Saturday morning, and a couple of Jellos Saturday night. They gave him some ice cream, Jello, and crackers. His stomach was a bit sore before... but they had said all the platelets they gave him, and the blood... the antibiotics... could make him a bit icky. It's kind of continued to be sore...

Last night, he wasn't real hungry. That was fine... Mom and Dad had come down to visit for a bit... brought me some chili... He nibbled on some rice and mac and cheese.

Early this AM, he got a little queasy... he's thrown up some stomach bile a couple of times. The shunt doesn't seem to be draining the fluid, but his hole from the parencentesis was still open and oozing until last night. The nurses had tried to tape it off, but it was still leaking out... I got him to roll on his opposite side to take the pressure off the hole (otherwise, every time you wiped it dry, it would just ooze back out again), and got it closed off, finally. Dr. W... the surgeon, said that MAY have actually been keeping the shunt from doing it's job. It's based on high pressure/low pressure, and since the hole was there (VERY tiny hole, but a hole nonetheless), it may have kept the pump from pulling. We're gonna' see! I think Dr. W is going to order up some more Lasix... just to help things along as far as getting the fluid out of his tummy.

Dr. W and Gloria, our oncologist's PA, have both been in. They had called the GI doc, and he had ordered an xray, but Dr. W has upgraded it to a CT. Don't know when they're going to take him down... but I just had to pause for a moment... we were going to change his sheets while he was gone, and give him a bath when he got back, but since it may be later, and due to the fact that he just urped and accidentally poured it from the pan down his gown and into the bed... the PCA (? that's what the white board says) changed his bedding while I washed him up.

Without doom and gloom, I think that they're concerned with why he's kind of going South. He was good when we went home Friday... Even after being down here Saturday and the ICU overnight Sunday, yesterday, he was looking really pert and perky. He was pretty good while Mom and Dad were here... just this throwing up thing now... and he's back to the being kind of lethargic. Washing his poor battered bod... he looks like he's just wasting away... everything is skin and bones but that belly. He's had A belly since I've known him, but he was always really built. BIG muscular arms... BIG muscular legs (or as Daniel had put it one time, legs like F'in GI Joe)... 'Bout broke my heart. Like washing up my Papaw after had his heart surgery.

Here I was so thrilled last night... thinking he was doing so much better... THRILLED that our night nurse snagged me a twin size cot to sleep on, so I could ditch the recliner chair. I guess THAT is still good. Looks like we're going to be here awhile longer... so important that I get good rest so I can be able to take care of him. And with all else going on early this AM, we did both get a better night's rest last night. He was up and down a bit, but we were both still snoozing up until around 7:30-8 this AM... that's nearly unheard of.

Keep praying... we're not quite out of the woods yet...

I talked to one of Joe's co-workers just a bit ago... His CPS boss donated 3 days of time for Joe, so he's covered now, for Thursday, Friday, and yesterday... and Connie said she's going to ask the "big dogs" about if there is anything in the PTO pool... that was supposed to have been set up after Joe's hospital stint after his inital cancer surgery. She said for us to not worry about Joe's paycheck for this week. They WILL get it covered. Tony, our friend and one of Joe's Boeing bosses, told me the same thing Sunday night. Joe and I are not to worry about his job, or about a paycheck. It's almost too much to hope for, but we'll see.

So, keep the prayers and good thoughts coming... we're still working our way out of the woods here. Thanks! Susan