It was another not so good day. Bill was still sleeping when I got there, but woke up when I touched his shoulder. He had a student nurse, of course under the supervision of a senior nurse, and it always kind of scares me. I know she did his Prograf wrong, put it through his tube instead of under his tongue. But, that's a common mistake and this far out it probably doesn't make a lot of difference.

Dr. Threlkeld came in and said that a bacteria did show up in the blood cultures and he had them repeated overnight to double check and make sure it wasn't cross comtamination from when it was drawn. He did say it was not the usual E.coli or pseudomonas but something different. If it showed up in the second culture his central line would have to be pulled. We all know that there are very few sites left for IVs with him, but with sepsis beginning, I can't speculate on what they will come up with. But it won't be able to stay in his neck. I guess I'll find out this morning.

His urine output also dropped off again and in an 8 hour period, only put out 200 cc. Dr. Morris asked the nurse (the senior one) if he had gotten his Lasix and she said he had gotten 1 dose because that's all it showed in the computer. So, he was going to write the order for a huge amount of Lasix. He also wanted to know if ID (infectious disease) was aware of the culture results, and coupled with the low urine output and rising white count, he was almost sure the line would have to be pulled.

His hematocrit was at 24, so Dr. Edwards ordered a unit of blood. It didn't perk him up as fast as it usually does. He did sit in his chair for 3 hours, though but was ready to get back into bed when it was time.

As they moved him back to bed his oxygen dropped to 69 and it was discovered that part of the tubing from the vent had come loose and he wasn't getting enough pressure to keep his airway open. Once that was fixed and his oxygen came back up, he went straight to sleep. But, to me, it didn't look like sleep, because he didn't react to anything they were doing. But, Stacy the senior nurse assured me it was just sleep.

His feeding tube started leaking again and so much bile was backing up into the tube it was hard to get it flushed. It took quite a bit of time and pressure to get it back under control. It looked to me like it was a mixture of bile, maybe some formula, and blood. The bloody aspect would be new it in fact it was blood. It was just hard to tell. Stacy finally got it to slow enough that she could get it packed again. And, it had looked good when the dressing was changed.

He didn't want to really wake up when it was time for me to leave but he did open his eyes and nod. I did not get any calls in the night that he was not responding, or to verbally sign paperwork for another line, so I'm taking that as a good sign.

I talked to Dr. Mullinax as I was leaving the hospital and he said that Bill was one of the strongest patients he has ever seen, and that I'm the strongest woman he knows, as I stood there with tears running down my face! But, you know the rest he's my husband that's my job.

I finally got the email with the paperwork about the dumpster that has to be signed and emailed back. And of course, my printer is saying that the scan function is not connected to any computer. And my computer keeps saying to pick a printer but when I pick it, it won't work. So, it may be petty, but it can wait until I get home tonight and can play with it more.

The cats are still at the vet. They are some better, but he wants to continue the injectable meds for at least 1 more day. I'll call again this morning to check on them.

And now, you know the drill, time for me to grab some clothes and head out. I chatted online with a very dear person who has gone through some of what we are going through and I asked him a question that had been bothering me for awhile about feelings. He assured me that it was normal, which made me feel so much better. In fact, I only woke up once to use the bathroom about midnight and then slept deeply until the alarm went off. Hopefully it will be a decent day, at least for us, and a good day for everyone else!