Sunday night update

Quiet day. Ron's had the post-surgery blahs, (not much energy/sleeping alot) along with quite a bit of soreness in his arm. Wound care nurse came in to do dressing change while I went out to grab lunch and is pleased with how it looks. Ron says she removed the packing, poked, prodded, took all her measurements, cleaned the wound site, replaced packing and redressed; all of which will have to be done daily, lovely.

Infectious disease doctor was in and said the culture came back positive for staph infection; although it is not the MRSA strain of staph which is very good (if you have to have staph!). Antibiotic has been tailored to specific strain. Thankful to hear staph was not in bloodstream, even though picc line itself, as well as gunk they had swabbed from site both tested positive.

Blood pressure is consistently more stable but glucose level continues to bounce around some; not too terribly bad, but enough to require insulin a couple of times.

Lost another 2 IV lines due to collapsed veins; most recent one only lasted 4 hours, UGH!!! They are wanting to give him a break from all the sticks so are trying to maintain just the one. They are having to disconnect PPN twice a day in order to run antibiotic for half hour; then hook PPN back up; not optimal set up, but his preference to avoid searching for an adequate vein. (PPN is not as highly concentrated as TPN in order to infuse through IV line, therefore it must run 24 hours a day.)

He's feeling pretty well, all things considered and is getting a little bored. We went for a long walk this evening and he did really well, although it exhausted me....his IV pole would not roll well so I was fighting it the entire time, whew!

So, there's your nightly report from Presby! Thanks so much for your e-mails with your words of encouragement; Ron really enjoys reading them (well, we both do but it's especially uplifting to him...this is the only link he has to the outside world!)

Much love, Christie