Thursday, 4/4

As promised, I went over to be with Ed in the morning.  Although today was less stressful (at least for me), it was busy.  It's amazing to me how hard it is to keep track of time and I can look up and several hours have passed.  Throughout the day I am making notes to keep track of things.

Our case manager, Chris, stopped by this morning.  She is still looking for a bed in rehab for Ed.  She's hoping to secure one at two of the in-service facilities in Hadley/Amherst.

Carol, one of the wound ostomy nurse, was in next and spent some time checking Ed's wounds and tending to those.  She identified a couple pressure ulcers on his buttocks so tended to those and implemented a strict schedule for rotating Ed and keeping him on his side.  She also identified a small leak on his right side which we could not figure out from what.  But a small amount of liquid was leaking out.  The leak seemed to be less later in the evening.

Ed did a good job eating his breakfast and then his lunch.  After lunch, the physical therapists came to get him out of bed and into a chair.  This took a little bit, but Ed did a good job of getting into a standing position and then getting into the chair with the help of a walker.  They had him sit up straight, feet on the floor, for 30 mins and then he could recline for 30 mins.  But no more than an hour in the chair (per Carol).  As difficult as it was for Ed to move, it was very good for him to stand for a bit and use his legs and feet.

Ed did experience a great deal of pain when they put him back into bed.  Looking back at my notes, I could see that his pain medication was wearing off at that time.  Rolling him to the opposite side two hours later was thankfully less painful but still sapped a lot of energy.

Rob, our PA, came by to see us to report on Ed's condition.  Said that the fluid from the abdomen was infected.  No cultures had developed yet but they would wait another 24 hrs.  In the meantime, antibiotics are being given.  If there are other specific infections they will changeup the antibiotics accordingly.  They are also continuing diuretics to help reduce the swelling (while not stressing the kidneys).  As Rob said, it's a slow process because he's pushing the kidney to work hard, but doesn't want to push it too hard and cause damage.  Once Ed is off all IVs and both the antiobiotics and diuretic can be administered with oral meds, he can be released to rehab.  Rob thinks this might be in about 48 hrs!  So now it's just a matter of our case manager finding a bed for him!

Ed then had some dinner which is good since it's so important for him to eat and get some protein into him.  Another roll to the opposite side and when I left he was resting comfortably watching the Red Sox game.

We'll see what tomorrow brings but please keep sending the prayers.