Still in ICU - Day 3

Still no fevers and Jack is on oral blood pressure up medicine which seems to be doing its thing until about an hour before his next dose is due. We are managing the in between time with fluids - next week we will have fun taking medication to get all of this extra fluid out of his body - but one thing at a time.

I just took myself an hour nap in this chair so I am less tired but I believe there has been some
permanent damage done from the wooden arm and my ribs not interacting well. There is wireless access from here so I have been able to update the blog but I can't (or am not allowed )to use the cell - I did get caught a couple of times! The best way to communicate until we get sprung is through email (czaney @hotmail.com) or the blog.

Jack has been sleeping for the most part of the last 2 days so that is good. He has had a guard (nursing assistant) stationed in his room for whenever I am not here since he has attempted to get out of bed and has been unhooking all the special monitoring lines and tubes to make a break for it. He is also still fairly confused - complaining that they wouldn't put the flowers on the music (?) and going on about pillow choices 1, 2 or 3??? I am sure he will explain all that when he wakes up more and that it is something that I should be handling but I will need clearer direction!! He has also promised not to get out of bed without help but since he is not making much sense - don't really believe him!

Still nothing from the cultures so the source of the fever is still a mystery. They repeated his bloodwork since his platelets came back at 11,000. If the second result is the same, we will have to go down the path of giving him more - have to weigh that risk with the risk of spontaneous bleeding from the platelets being so low. Results just came back from that - he will need platelets. Let's cross our fingers that that will be as uneventful as when he got them last Monday. The will pre-medicate him with steroids, Bendryl and Tylenol. His white blood count was 1.9 this morning (second result was 2.3) so he will get a growth hormone shot to boost those up some as well.

They have just brought up his gourmet dinner of Salisbury steak (I think?) so I will try to convince him that is work eating and if not - his carnation breakfast.