Ooops...I missed a day

Jeff continues to recover and rest. He has been able to take a shower (with some close supervision by me to make sure he's safe to stand alone and doesn't get his dressings wet), he's had the central line in his neck removed this afternoon (after they put a fresh peripheral line in his arm...he was not a happy camper about that since it took two tries), and started was able to have a clear liquid diet as of last night.

There is still no mention of when Jeff can go home but he and I are taking bets. He's thinking Friday and I'm hoping for Thursday. Of course, the doctors aren't telling us what they are thinking and they are the ones that count. I don't think they want us to rush. Dr. Royal said that Jeff is doing extremely well and much better than other patients with his type of surgery.

Jeff spends most of his day dozing off, taking walks around the unit, listening to cd's and watching movies with me. He's not up to reading yet and surprisingly hasn't complained about being bored yet. I think I'd go stir crazy if I was in his shoes.

Removing the lines

Today has been restful and productive (in a wierd sort of way). The Epidural line in Jeff's back has been removed and IV pain meds have been started. Luckly, Jeff hasn't had much pain at all thanks to the watchful eyes of the physicians and nurses here. The cathater in Jeff's bladder has been removed and his bladder is working normally. He's still on ice chips but hopefully he'll be allowed to have clear liquids soon.

Brittany, Brad and Sharon came for a much welcome visit yesterday. The twins stayed behind to spend the night with me in the Lodge and to extend their visit with Jeff this morning. It was such a nice day. We took several walks around the unit today and if I can get Jeff to take one final pass (his usual four laps) tonight, he'll have done a whole mile today. That's impressive!

Brit and Brad are back home safely again this evening and start their second and final week of driver's education training tomorrow. Brad did a wonderful job of driving the Beltway on his trip back home this afternoon and thank goodness the thunderstorms and rain held off until he was on 301. I'm not sure my heart could have taken a 16 year old drive on the Beltway in a thunderstorm and heavy rain....whew.

Well folks, another day at the NIH Adult Oncology Unit is behind us. Hopefully we won't have to be here much longer. I'll keep ya'll posted.

Getting Back Up to Speed

Jeff is MUCH better today than yesterday...still on ice chips but his color is back, his urine output is normal, and he has taken two trips around the unit today. They decided it wasn't a urinary tract infection but haven't given me anything really solid about what caused the downturn yesterday. They gave Jeff some extra IV solution and Lasiks (sp?) last night and some more Lasiks again this morning. Dr. Hinkstrum,the on call physician, wanted to get rid of any extra fluid Jeff may have and to flush his delinquent bladder. Between that and the rest he got last night (thanks to the anti-naseua medicine) he looks 10 times better than yesterday. He is still sleeping a lot but rest is a good thing right now.

Jeff's incision was "seeping" at his bellybutton today so Dr. Hinkstrum took out a few of the staples this morning. He also cleaned out the incision and then packed it with saline soaked gauze. The open incision looked like something out of CSI (coming from the CSI junkie that I am) but Dr. H. assures me that this will help heal this part of the incision from the inside out and prevent infection. FYI - The doctor's still haven't thrown out any discharge dates so we're not making any plans yet.

Jeff's roomate is on a weekend pass and the room is nice and quite....at least until the twins arrive.