It was a busy day today. The plan was for Marye to have a procedure called a thoracentesis, which is using a needle through the back into the lung to draw off any fluid from the pneumonia. So while we were waiting for that, she had the usual gaggle of doctors and technicians coming in to the room every few minutes. Another procedure she had was an ultrasound of her heart. We should get the results of that tomorrow. In the meantime, her breathing has not really improved at all. She was able to take a walk around the floor today, so that was pretty good. But she needs to get back on the oxygen right away.
Anyway, they did perform the thoracentesis and were able to draw off about a liter and a half of fluid from her right lung. They will do a biopsy on the fluid to see if there's any cancer, but they don't expect to find that. There will also be a full culture done to check on the pneumonia. As I write this, her breathing has not improved yet, but it should as her lung should now be able to fully expand.
She was no longer taking any IVs, and the pain is being managed well with the Dilaudid. I'm not sure yet when she will be able to come home. I doubt it will be this weekend, but hopefully by Monday she'll be strong enough. I'll post again over the weekend with any updates. I'm hoping that it is a quiet weekend. I'm telling you, if I had a dollar for every time someone came into the hospital room throughout the day, I'd have a lot of dollars.
-Chris
