Homecoming

Shane came home from the hospital today.  He is tired, but he was able to walk from the cab to the building, and he has been walking around the apartment a bit.  His first order of business when he came home was to fix himself a cup of tea.  (Thanks John, Jim, and Laura for the gourmet tea bags!)  The visiting nurse service is going to come see us tomorrow.

Rounding the corner

So much has happened in the 48 hours since Shane's last operation.  He is off of the IV pain medications and gets Vicadin only on request.  As he puts it, he's now on the "opiate-lite" plan.  He can walk without a walker and he is off of oxygen.  The doctors are saying Shane will be able to go home soon if his appetite continues to improve and the symptoms of infection don't come back. Shane has lost a lot of weight, so a nutritionist came to visit yesterday and suggested that Shane try a high-protein diet supplement.  They bring this drink every meal now, but Shane isn't too eager to drink the foul-tasting stuff.  I contribute to Shane's weight-gain plan by picking up a glazed doughnut every day on my way to the hospital.  On request, I brought his favorite potato-kale soup from home for lunch yesterday.  His mom brought spaghetti for dinner from one of the Italian restaurants near the hospital and Shane ate it right up!  In preparation for Shane's home coming, I will stock the kitchen with lots of calorie-dense foods: guacamole and corn chips, bacon and eggs, coconut sorbet, and peanut butter.  If only we could all be so lucky to have a doctor tell us to eat lots of these foods!  The doctors also suggested Shane go to rehab to regain some of the strength he's lost during the last 2 weeks of fasting and bed rest.  He will receive rehab on an out-patient basis.  

The operation went as planned

Shane's operation today was successful.  He received twilight sedation, so he was fully awake about an hour and a half after surgery.  He immediately asked what was for lunch!  His appetite was better today than it has been over the past week, which makes me think the surgery is helping him get better.  The doctor said everything went as expected during the procedure - he rinsed out the abscess and put in the drain.  He also said he didn't see any signs of ischemia, which is a reduction in blood flow to the tissue that can signal more problems in the future.  The doctor said we have to play it by ear now and see whether the infection clears.  I asked if Shane could come home from the hospital this week and the doctor said he can't make any promises.  So, we'll just take it day by day.  Thanks, everyone, for your words of support as we continue on this journey.

Another operation

Shane's test results indicate he continues to have an infection at the site of the surgery, even though he's been on antibiotics for two weeks.  He still has one of the two catheters that they gave him during the surgery last Sunday, but since the CT scan shows fluid building up again, they will do a simple procedure to put the second catheter back in.  The doctor said this infection will not resolve itself with antibiotics alone, and part of the reason Shane is having so much trouble healing is because of the radiation treatments he received before the surgery.  Luckily, tomorrow's procedure won't involve any incisions, can be done without full anesthesia, and will only take 10 minutes. 

Doing the dance again

Shane had a fever of 101.5 tonight, so he repeated the dance he knows so well by now: urine sample, blood culture, chest x-ray, CT scan.  Same routine, different day.  The on-call doctor hypothesized that Shane's fever was caused by a topical infection at the site of his IV needle.  We shall see.  Meanwhile, there were some successes.  Shane managed to eat a bit more today.  Using the walker he walked a loop around the oncology unit without his oxygen.  He sat up in a chair for three hours. A respiratory therapist came in the afternoon and said Shane's lungs sounded clear, so he managed to avoid having her thump on his back to make him cough up phlegm.  Shane received numerous calls from friends and was too tired to get back to all of you, but he asked me to tell you he'll call you back as soon as he can!

Breakfast for two

This morning I made homemade oatmeal and hard boiled eggs and toted them to the hospital so that Shane and I could share a quiet breakfast while we looked out the window at his view.  Shane still doesn't have his appetite back.  He says food just doesn't taste right, like when you have a cold.  Even so, he managed to eat a few spoonfuls of oatmeal and drink some orange juice.  He ate half of the egg, a few saltines, and a little bit of chicken soup at lunch.  I didn't mention this before, but Shane did have another 101 degree fever on Thursday night even though he is still on antibiotics.  Shane's doctors ordered a urine culture and another complete blood count.  He may also have another CAT scan on Monday to make sure that no abscesses have formed in his abdomen or pelvis.  His diuretics and albumin are working, so much of the swelling, edema, or "third spacing" he experienced in his body after the surgery has subsided.  Third spacing is when fluid collects in the spaces between your organs.  I don't fully understand the phenomenon, but if you are interested in the chemistry of it, you can checked out this nursing article on third spacing.  Shane also had a lot of visitors today.  I visited in the morning and his mom visited in the afternoon.  His friend Tom from Tuesday night dropped by.  We also met Dave, the son of Shane's aunt's best friend, and his wife Crystal, who happen to live in New York.  They brought Shane some delicious mint tea and we had a nice visit.  Seems like all the visitors wore Shane out, because he told me he didn't have the energy to watch The Wire tonight - that's our favorite TV show that we watch on DVD.

View of the Hudson

Shane moved back to his bed in the oncology unit last night around midnight.  They saved his room for him, which is excellent because it has a view of the Hudson and the George Washington Bridge.  It is lit up at night and the cars twinkle as they go by.  His contact information is:
     New York - Presbyterian/Columbia
     Milstein Hospital Building
     177 Ft. Washington Ave.
     6 Hudson South, Room 240 B
     New York, NY  10032
     (212) 543-7235
Shane has been getting a nebulizer, which is helping him breathe more easily.  (It's also better than the alternative treatment for fluid around the lungs, which involves a big needle.)  Shane's doctor promoted him to a regular food diet today.  Shane's stomach has mixed feelings about that.  He is having an easier time getting out of bed and sitting up in a chair.  He also has less pain.  He's going to hang out in his hospital room and enjoy the view for the weekend.  We'll see how next week goes...