I know it's been few days since I've posted, so file this under the category of "No news is good news". Marye has been showing slow but steady improvement this week. Her white blood cells are down into the normal range and she is feeling better. She's still taking dilaulid for pain several times a day, but it hasn't been as bad as it's been. Also, the dilaulid is not knocking her out as much as it was, while it still eases the pain. They discontinued all of the IVs and she's taking antibiotics via pill. Finally, she's been working with the occupational and physical therapy folks, and is able to get up out of bed on her own and can walk without a walker.
On the downside, she still has pneumonia. There is a fair amount of fluid in her lungs and the plan is to tap her lungs tomorrow, using a needle through her back and into the lungs to drain the fluid off. They can also run a culture of the fluid to see how infected it is. Her only realy clinical symptom is her oxygen saturation. She's currently on oxygen, her levels are good when she's laying down. Today, though, as she walked around a little, they tested her O2 and it went way down. Hopefully, draining the fluid from her lungs will help that. So, it's possible that she will go home on Friday. The last thing they need to do is to transition her to oral dilaudid for pain. If she still needs the oxygen, she can get that at home, though it would be better if she didn't need it, obviously. But it's looking much better, overall. I'm not sure if they will get everything done in time to discharge her, but it's very possible. I'll post again on Friday with the results of the procedure and the timeline for discharge.
I'd like to take this time to again thank everyone for their thoughts and well-wishes for Marye. She's gotten a lot of cards, calls, visitors, etc. this week and they really lift her spirits. So thanks to all of you.
-Chris
