Mixed news and altars (day 16)

Good evening from the hotel, where all is quiet today.

More cautious optimism. Nancy has been sleepy and groggy and pain-medicated a lot today, but the pee-pee prayer seems to be working, as she is consistently making about 20ml per hour of urine. That would be, uh, 480 per day, definitely headed in the right direction. Her face looks less swollen, and her complexion is a little ruddy, probably because she got a couple of units of blood today.

Here is the mixed news for today (I'm getting used to every day bringing some of this, and some of that). Her vitals all look good, her temperature is normal, and there have been no more cardiac surprises. And...she's still on the respirator, still on dialysis (and tolerating it well), still not moving her arms or feeling a lot in her hands, or able to talk yet. The MRI from last night didn't show anything significant, no new abscess, or anything to suggest that she has any kind of a problem in her head. (Almost tossed a joke in here, but somehow I just can't do it :) In fact, they removed the EEG monitor, so that's one less piece of equipment clustered around her.

She's is retaining something close to 40lbs of fluid, so it's important that her kidneys get going. The dialysis is helping, but I'm still praying for her kidneys to pick up their job, and start getting rid of all this edema. Go little gals.

I mentioned my ritual of lighting our home with candles each night when I return around 11pm. Here are pictures of our main altars from last night. The kuan yin is up in the living room/kitchen area, right where I make dinner and sort mail and feed the cats. The buddha is in the entry way on the first floor, the first thing I light when I enter. It is about 30" tall, made of marble, and sits at the exact center of our house. The incense fills the house all evening, and I often sit down there with it, feeling what I need to feel and petting our cats, who follow me throughout the house. This ritual each evening is totally helping me keep my sanity. The candles burn all night.

Love,

-tdc