Some Ups and Downs

At the hospital: Some ups and downs

• Rachel’s still pretty groggy, even though they’ve backed her pain med down quite a bit. We’re watching the Olympics, of course, but dozing on and off.
• Her fever is down, as she’s on a broad mix of antibiotics (including vancomycin).
• She was anemic yesterday evening, so they gave her two more units of blood.
• Her bilirubin was elevated to 5, and the other liver enzymes were up a little. She’s a little jaundiced as a result. (This is alarming me more than it is her doctors.)
• The chest x-ray today looked similar to yesterday -- no better, no worse.
• They gave her a beta-blocker to try to bring her heart rate down, but it’s still hanging in the low 130’s.
• Food is still a no-no, but her fluid balance is now good enough to allow IV nutrition to start tonight. That should help her energy level as well.
• She’s been out of bed a couple of times today. They wanted her to walk around a little, but we settled for standing for a few minutes and then sitting up in a chair for 30 min.
• She’s going to be in the ICU at least another day. And rather than wait 3-4 weeks for chemo they’re going to start next week, if it looks like Rach can tolerate it.

At home:

• Conor and Emmet are at the Finamores today, and probably going for a bike ride later.
• Fiona is going to hang with Maddy G., both of whom are a little tired from Emily Boylan’s sleepover birthday party last night (go figure).
• I’m going to bring the kids here for a visit tomorrow. The ICU rule is only immediate family members over 12, but the nurse said we could sneak them in for a quick hello. (A week is longer than they’ve ever gone without seeing her.)

Pat