It was a rough night and the day up to this point has proven to be just as crummy. But we're hopeful things will begin to look up soon; once all his new treatments are on board.

It's been over a year since Ron has been in the ICU and we'd forgotten how exhausting it is. Due to the extreme nausea and intermittent yakking, Ron has not been able to get much sleep...he dozes a little, but not a good, deep stretch of sleep (except when he's under anesthesia for procedures in IR).

Swelling in right arm had decreased enough to allow placement of PICC; so he went back to IR this morning where they removed the catheter in his left arm and placed PICC in right.

He's continued to have nausea and vomiting despite being on both Zofran and Phenergan, and his blood pressure has been running very low all day as well. (70/38 at one point) and they are keeping him on oxygen since his blood sat is not stable on room air alone, as yet.

We were so glad to see Dr. A (gastro) this morning, he has been able to piece together many of the issues Ron's been having, since he is the ongoing primary doctor who knows him so well. One treatment is to increase his steroid which should help with both blood pressure and vomiting. He also said as hard as it is on Ron, the vomiting is not to be unexpected since his carotid/jugular and majority of veins in chest are raw and inflamed from procedures and because of clots (recent and previous); intra cranial pressure can build up. He likened to when a brain shunt fails-- vomiting will often occur. He also prescribed Phenergan and/or Zofran (for vomiting) every 4 hours and Protonix (tummy med) twice daily, all injected through PICC.

Dr. M (hematologist/oncologist) was also in this morning. It looks like Ron will begin heparin injections through his PICC beginning tomorrow morning as long term treatment for clotting issues. He'll get these 3 times a day indefinitely (most likely for the rest of his life)

On a better note: Temperature seems to finally be under control, YIPPEE! And it looks like he will be an inaugural patient to the brand new Hamon Tower ICU. The facility we watched them build from the ground up as Ron was here for such an extended period of time. They move 3ICU over tomorrow morning at 7AM. (We've got our eyes pealed for the engraved plaque stating "paid for by a generous donation from the Ronald Nordell family"...after all the money we've spent here, it's only fitting, right?!)

We had a little kink thrown into our plans, the Cash Cow at Hotel Presby has run out! They can no longer give me the long term rate of $30, in fact you must be here for 14 consecutive nights and then they only reduce it by 25%. They've also gone up on the parking (used to be $4 max and is now $5 and you reach the max much more quickly!) and valet has gone from free when he was first here, to $3 early this year and now up to $5. Gotta pay for that fancy new building they've just opened somehow.

Anywho, I went home the first night and spent the night at Aaron's bachelor pad last night...it was great to be just 15 minutes away as opposed to the monster drive it would have been at rush hour.

It's been hard, but I know God is stretching and growing me in all of this. I get so used to my comfort zones, those areas I think I can control; yet, control is only illusion! My heart knows but my mind forgets and I know it's a big, yet necessary step to being totally dependent on the Father. One of those areas I've clung to has been that subconscious thought that as long as I'm here, everything will be ok. And I've been reminded of this so often these last few days that whether I'm here or not, he still has excellent doctors and nurses. It just makes me feel better. And that no matter what, God is not just with Ron but He has gone before us and He is in control.

Thanks for your continued prayers.
Christie

"Show me your ways, O LORD, teach me your paths" Psalm 25:4