Tuesday morning

Found this picture in a draft blog post Dad had started. Joyce's cousin Joan was originally going to come up and help plant these, the weekend Dad first came to the hospital this time around. In the meantime, they now make a lovely feature in the hospital room.

Just before we left last night, Dad got pretty animate and said he wanted to know what was going on (or something close to that - basically that he felt out of the loop). We're reducing the pain medication a little so he can be a bit more coherent. He's very clear he would rather be in some pain so he can communicate. But as we've mentioned, there's only so much we know either.

His feeding tube doesn't appear to be working well - nothing getting processed in his stomach. They're going to xray later today and maybe reposition it. Meanwhile, the drain in his liver hadn't been outputting for a while, and that has now increased overnight. Kidney function is somewhere around 15-20%. He's much more alert today and it's been nice to see a smile cross his face every so often. Joking with the nurses which hasn't happened for a while. Has a new nurse today, a big guy named Todd, that we all like quite a bit. Very much still a waiting game, but now there are two of us (not just Mom) to be on call. Dad can't swallow liquids, but asks for ice chips quite a bit and can crunch those up and get those down without much issue.

Mom and I spent the night at a nearby friend's house. Especially good for Mom to sleep in an actual bed, and Dianne’s house was so spacious we kind of even got lost for a while (she's out of town and gave us free reign).

Dr. Lavelle (oncologist) is finally back, which Dad has been waiting for. Really like him. Realized Dad was on Benadryl (which, like many of us, Dad takes to sleep sometimes) so removed that order. Basically, things could go either way at this point, and we're on a "wait and see" plan, trying to let Dad make some of the decisions as to pain threshhold and body position as much as is possible, as he just can't get comfortable. The staff has been great here, trying to time medications and therapy around when they think visitors are coming, and really did a lot to get ready for me yesterday. We've appreciated the team attitude here. 

Thanks, everyone, for all your support. 

Erin