A Positive Direction Again

I just spoke with Robert J, and he reported that he was sitting in his chair and had eaten his breakfast - back on the French Toast wagon. His unsettled digestive system seemed better Friday evening, and sounds like it's better still today. I have never known RJ to be disinterested in food in our nearly 39 years together, so this was a strange couple of days.

He was checked out not once but 3 different times by the Neurology team yesterday. They asked lots of questions and put him through several motor skill exercises. They feel that his shakiness is mostly due to the Prograf he's taking to suppress his immune system. His recent problems with walking and standing have to do with dramatic muscle loss, probably from the high initial doses of Prednisone, complicated by some diabetic neuropathy that has developed over time. His fuzzy mental state Wed. afternoon and Thursday may have been due to medications - he passed all the tests they tried on him ( better than I would have). The plan is to get him up and moving more, work with the transplant docs to decrease the Prednisone as much as possible, and keep his nutritional intake substantial.

He also has a new device working for him, after the kidney transplan team finaly decided to use a wound vac machine on his leaky wound. It's a fairly new technology, where a special foam sponge is placed in the wound, along with a tube that's attached to a small batter-powered machine. The wound is then covered with a plastic-like material to seal it, and the leaky fluids are continually "vacuumed" out through the tube into a container in the machine. It's painless and silent, and the sponge only needs to be replaced every 3 or 4 days by the home health nurse.

We took a couple of short laps around his end of the 10th floor last evening, along with a nursing assistant, his walker, the wound vac machine and of course the latest Mr. Foley. A little cumbersome but once he got moving he did well. We will plan for lots more walks until he is strong enough to walk out of the hospital, possibly in a couple of days. He's looking forward to a visit from his brother today. His cell phone does not work in this room on the back side of the hospital, but he does have a direct line to his room - just let me know if you want that number. He would be happy to chat with friends.