Thursday, November 24, 2011

Thankful (day 29)

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

I am indeed thankful that Nancy is recovering, and also thankful for all your kind wishes and support. I'm sitting with Nancy now, with the odd combination of meditation music and soundless football on the TV. Nancy had a lot of pain last night, so she's on more painkillers, and has been dozing all day. She hasn't asked for anything, or opened her eyes for more than a few moments.

Her temperature is up a little, to about 100, and her pulse has been steadily on the high side, but there haven't been any blood cultures or test results to suggest an infection is back. She is still on at least two antibiotics, the nafcillin for her original infection, and ciprofloxin (instead of zosyn) for the secondary infection she got a week ago. She is also on two antiviral drugs, ganciclovir and voriconazole. Hard to imagine an infection surviving with all those going. She's getting another unit of blood today, in fact, she's been getting blood and/or platelets several times a week. Her kidneys are still working slowly, making 300-400ml of urine a day. We had another discussion about her trachea tube size, and what would be necessary to allow her to speak. The consensus is that, with everything still going on, they don't want to take the risk of downsizing it yet. But they are going to deflate the internal collar, so that she can continue to move more air past it. As her swelling goes down, maybe she can get to the point that she can speak soon.

I'm more rested after a full night of sleep. Our cat's wake me each morning around 6:30, looking for a can of food, and I simply threw them out of the bedroom today, sacked out, and slept until 8am. I had some fun baking pumpkin pie, and will be going to the family feast around 4pm. I've brought her (Pathways mystery school) candle to take her place at the dinner table.

Just had her cancer doc drop by, Dr. Andreadis, with one of his fellows who has been on top of Nancy's situation ever since she got here. It's always good to see them, and we talked about starting her on an SSRI (antidepressant) to help with her long neurological recovery. Andreadis (we actually call him Babbas, because his first name is unpronounceable) tells me that depression is common at this stage, and actually indicates that her recovery is going well. As Nancy gets better, she's more aware of her current limitations. And of course, she's been staring at the same room for four friggin' weeks.

They also told me that Nancy not only got out of the room in a neuro chair a couple of days ago, but she was able to stand with assistance to get into it. The first time we tried the chair, last Sunday, it was a bed-to-bed transfer. I imagine it felt good for her to be standing, even with the help of two people.

We have much to be thankful for. I hope this note finds you all enjoying a feast with friends and family, thankful for your health and well being.

Love,
-tdc

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