Proton Session #10- Still in the Hospital

Friday

It looks like there's a strong likelihood we will in fact still be in the hospital over Shabbos.

The bacteria that grew out from one of his lines on Monday NT (staph) is different from the bacteria that grew out from his other line on wed (strep), and so, we need to wait for the blood culture from that line to grow back negative. Baruch Hashem, strep is supposed to be sensitive to the same antibiotic that he's already taking (vacomyacin) so, hopefully that will be soon. We won't know before 3 pm though (24 hrs post the blood draw from yesterday). The other issue is that a home health care co. has to be arranged for discharge so he can continue iv antibiotics, and the insurance end of things is proving to be difficult when it comes to that for a change. We are waiting for a request to my home health care co in Atlanta to overnight the drugs to us at the hosp. If that arrives and the blood culture from his line is neg., then we get to leave for Shabbos. There's nothing like plans being up in the air erev shabbos.

On a more definitive note, the chest xray techs in the er had thought Menschi had pneumonia (you saw the picture --- do you think that's what it was?), and now a more recent xray proved that the inflamed lining was most likely adelexisis which is mainly due to chronic wheezing. That seems to be clearing up, and he's back on maintenance meds exclusively --- hurray!

Yesterday, he had some GI orders (a belly ultrasound and fluoroscopy --- he was the fastest recorded barium drinker in ped. history!).We'll see what that shows, if anything. We don't know why he continues to be bloated (this is already for months now, but we haven't been in one place long enough to get it checked out properly), but I'm hoping these tests will shed some light.

Chasdei Hashem, Menschi has been able to stay on schedule with radiation, thanks to medical transport daily. We have gotten to ride in a "bed on the big truck" repeatedly, and menschi's even learning to count by pointing to all the traffic lights from Wolfson to Florida Proton (he can get up to 7, he just skips 5 & 6 ). Barring any unforeseen circumstances, the last proton session should be a week from today.

We will be in the Mandarin area of JAX for Rosh Hashana at the lovely families we've met.

HAVE A RESTFUL SHABBOS