Spent the day back in ER. Bill woke up coughing with a fever and dry heaves. When the home health nurse came at 9 she looked at him and called Mayo and Ginny, the transplant ARNP said to have us go to ER, so off we went. We also looked at his leg and it looked terrible.

Got to ER at 10:10 and at 2 we asked the tech to see if we could find out what was going on. We only saw the nurse once and that was to have blood drawn and a shunt put in for an IV. We saw a resident who said they would get some tests done and then he had a chest xray and EKG. After that, nothing. Finally saw the supervising dr. and he said it looked like he was starting to get a urinary tract infection so they were going to start him on antibiotics. He was also a little dehydrated but they gave him nothing to drink and no IV fluids! Dr. Yip was consulted and he is stopping his iron supplement for a couple of days until he sees him Wednesday. Finally left the hospital at 4:45, stopped to get the meds filled and got home at 5:30.

I was just starting his dressing change when Tina, our VAD nurse, called needing some info from his batteries and wanting to check on him. I have to go see her tomorrow because I'm out of dressing supplies and we aren't getting them delivered until Wednesday. Of course we are going to be gone most of the day Wednesday with appointments and I don't know if they will leave them at the door or not. So, I guess I need to check on that tomorrow.

He doesn't seem to be getting any stronger. In fact, he seems to be weaker than before the surgery. He has noticed this and is getting a little discouraged. Of course he did have several complications while hospitalized which doesn't help the healing. But most of the drs. we have seen seem to think he should be further along in recovery than he is. We shall see what rehab thinks when he seems them Thursday. But, watching him makes it hard to stay positive.

All for tonight. Keep the good thoughts and prayers going. There's still a long way to go!