Day + 45

Sorry its been awhile since my last update, but the big news is that I am home and have been for 2 days now. Like I have mentioned before, being home is a lot of work and it has really taken a big effort to get settled in again. With the addition of the Home Health provider visits and the TPN setup and take down every day, we have added to the stress and timing of getting everything in the confines of my limited day. As far as changes in my health- there is nothing really to report. The Doc's are going to ride things out for awhile and give my current meds time to do some work, so we shouldn’t be looking for anything spectacular to happen any time soon. As Karen has said “slow and steady” is progress. One thing to mention is, that they have upped my diet a bit more. I still can't have anything dairy or solid, but its a few more food options. You would be amazing how many “non-solid” foods contain dairy, think about it. OK that's it for now, don’t be surprised if my posts stay low for awhile as there shouldn't be much to report, but as soon I have news I will let you all know.

Tony

Day + 42

It is starting to look like the slow recovery process is working. At least enough so that they are talking about releasing me as early as tomorrow. We are still dealing with most of the issues and nothing is really going to change but my location. I will still be taking in food via TPN and all the same meds, they will just be from home. This comes with mixed feelings- on one hand it would be great to sleep/be in my home again (its been 20 days). In fact, of the last 50 days I have spent 45 in the hospital. On the other hand doing everything that is done in the hospital from home is a lot of work. A lot. In addition to doing the stuff at home, I will still need to make a daily visit to the clinic. Which in itself is a chore. We have an hour drive up to the clinic then get blood draws and wait about an hour to see if additional meds are needed, if so then administer meds (maybe 2 more hours), then another hour ride back home. Total average time 5 hours, and we get to do this every day Mon-Sun. Although I have gained a lot of energy, the clinic visit and home health tasks are going to take a lot out of me and my care-givers. We are willing to give this a try again but it is questionable as to how really-helpful this might be.

I just wanted to add a note here regarding care givers. You all know that I have Karen watching my back and helping in so many ways that I can not mention, but additionally, I have had my mom out for 3 weeks and now my sister in-law, Tracey for 7 weeks - both from Chicago. Their day to day help is so very hard to describe. Their help runs the gamut from helping with meds and getting dressed to just being in the room when I come to from a drug induced nap. I am so very grateful that they have been able to be at my side as we go through this process. THANKS guys...(thanks everyone...)