Good News

Today Ed went to the clinic and actually got to leave it after the appointment for the first time!

Hooray!

The blood test revealed that his ANC (the critical number that tells everything about the blood...it's magically - mathematically derived) was 1.56.

This was finally within a "good" range. It's been 0 before.

Thankful.

We heard today that a new port may be placed within two weeks now. This is different information than from the surgeon. One month was our first idea.

What a relief for Grandma, who is carefully flushing the PICC line with heparin every 12 hours. If the port goes in the PICC can go out.

We are watching the wound from the old port infection carefully. It looks good, and the antibiotics are working. We must change that dressing once a day now, not twice.

Having Ed at his grandparents was the perfect solution to keeping his two infection prone sites clean.

The dogs and cats are not even allowed to visit Ed.

Really, with the worst winter in years behind us the pets are all shedding copiously. Not the best for non-normal openings in the body.

We were able to see two oncology doctors today, our regular clinic nurse, the wound/skin specialist, our favorite Chaplain Hal, and several others. It's like a reunion in a weird way.

Tomorrow we visit the psychiatrist and give a report...and plan a new road map for bi-polar too.

Twelve hours at a time. 

That's how you do it. That's how you manage.

And how could anyone deal with this without God?

Simply unthinkable.

Knowing that each of our days was ordained from before we were knit in our mother's wombs is greatly comforting.

Other pesky problems have sprouted, and with the support of family and friends they are being taken down. That is a relief. It does make it easier to have such great help. Thank you.

Heaven and Hell

There are days I cling to Jesus because I look forward to heaven. There are days I cling to Jesus because He's keeping me from hell.

Savior.

a place to heal

Ed is at his grandparents for a time to rest. Grandma is a nurse, and we are grateful for a clean and restful spot for him to heal from the surgery and the new PICC line.

We are going to have a month of this. We think.

Thank you for checking on Ed here at this blog. Perhaps I'll get to write more soon.

To my regular readers I apologize for this emphasis on Ed. I know you understand.

Thank you for praying.

What's Next

Well, unsure.

Tomorrow we may leave the hospital. Today wasn't easy. Unpleasant experiences are made more unbearable by unpleasant people, and there was an incident today that colored my outlook for the day.
Pray I can be gracious. I realize that I am worn thin. Yes, I'm raw.

Maybe this person felt that personal circumstances were overwhelming too.

I am stewing about having to learn how to care for a PICC line, keep a wound open so that it can heal from the inside out, and help a nauseated/sick/infection fighting/chemo laden/bi-polar young man at home. I am not a nurse.

There are many difficult situations in the world. I have only joy regarding Ed. He is a delight.

His circumstances are less than ideal at the moment, I needn't overstate.

I think I've found the perfect place for him to survive this difficult month of the treatment plan.

I'm imposing, but thankful for the option. We'll see what happens.

Hospital views

Good

Just to let you know how the day went:

Quiet, nice visitors, the open wound looks clean, the PICC line is working. There is some bleeding there, concerning but understandable. Pain under control. Healing. A very nice talk with the psychologist who is leaving tomorrow to get married. Ed's nurse today loves Corgis. She's had two of them. Ed got a stuffed Corgi from one of my friends and this nurse delighted in showing it to her colleagues.  Corgis do that to you.

Talk of some kind of home care, perhaps sooner than we thought.

Rest.

Chemotherapy tomorrow. Friday being a holiday and all.

Oh, yeah, we switched rooms again. We're in our fifth room in 22 days. The view is marvelous. We are now looking toward St. Paul,  the University, and the airport.

So green. So healthy.