What a day

Well, it's been an eventful day but a good day.  Tom has had Sprite, lots of water and he just ate a banana popsicle.  The pic line went in successfully but was a bit of a challenge.  The worst part of his day was probably the removal of the central line.  Because of his propensity to bleed (at least since he's been here) the nurses had to apply a LOT of pressure when they removed the central line to keep him from bleeding out.  He was miserable and in quite a bit of discomfort for a few hours after that.  It seems he has recovered and keeps repeating he is ready to go home - which is great.  But, it will certainly make the remainder of his stay a challenge for him and the rest of us.  He is much more alert but still so weak.  I know that each day will get better.  We did not see the doctors to get an evening report on his blood work so hopefully we'll get an update on that and the liver function in the morning.  His nurse was admitting another patient so we didn't get to talk to her either.  He now has access to his TV - which is much nicer than the one we have to watch so that should help keep him entertained.  He has requested water or Sprite each time I've been in to see him so we've been trying to see him more often to make sure he gets as much to drink as he wants.  We appreciate your frequent visits to the site to get updates and I'm posting as often as I can and have new info.

My boss delivered a wonderful lunch from Amerigo's today - no doubt we have been eating well.  Every morning I tell myself I need to find a stairwell to climb or something but just don't seem to get the time.  We spend a lot more time helping Tom now that he's "awake" so that really needs to be my priority.  I just walk really, really fast down the long hall between the waiting room and CCU. 

I finally got to go home for a couple of hours to shower, play with the puppies, start some laundry and gather the mail.  You know, it really is the little things that make you feel so much better.

It's quite crowded and loud in camp CCU right now, really hoping that will change . . . soon.  I think there are more people here right now than there were this weekend.  Is there a full moon or something??  I guess the good news is they are laughing and not crying.  It seems that's all I did for the first few days.  In fact, several people came up to me and said "are you OK, we saw you crying in the hall".  I was nicknamed "lady crying in the hall".  Now I feel like "lady smiling in the hall" and it feels GOOD!!!

 ¹ Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. ² Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.  Hebrews 13:1-2 (NIV)