Day 50 - Dusting ourselves off for the next round

     What a difference 48 hours makes.  Since the last major update things have started to improve slightly.  Evan is beginning to smile again and seems more alert.  The doctors and nurses are comfortable with his status and the direction we're heading.

Doing some reading to stay mentally sharp.

     For his health update I'll start with the easy to explain issue.  The high blood pressure he was experiencing a couple of days ago seems to be withdrawals his body was having from the morphine, combined with the fevers.  The medical team upped his morphine drip for now and will start to wean him down next week if the fevers and inflammation have reduced.  They may introduce methadone if his body has a negative effect to this plan.
     It's been a while, but for the first time in over 30 days Evan spiked a fever today and his body was able to fight it off naturally.  By the time the nurse came back in with Tylenol his temperature had went back to normal.  In an effort to continue to aid his recovering immune system the doctors are putting him on scheduled Toradol, which is an anti-inflammatory, and are administering more IVIG (immunoglobulins).  His blood continues to show strong platelet, ANC and WBC counts.  His CRP scores are showing less inflammation, however his hemoglobin is pretty static, likely due to the daily blood draws.

Drawing done by one of the staff members earlier today.

     Evan's bowel movements are also starting to look better, which is pretty interesting since he's only getting sustenance through his IV.  Because of the c-diff he hasn't had any desire to eat.  The GI doctors checked him out this morning and were also pleased with how he looked and the appearance of his fecal matter.  If he continues to improve over the weekend the ID team has talked about pulling back an anti-fungal next week and switching his antibiotic to something a little easier on his body.
     Cristy and I are continuing to work with the PT team to help Evan get his ankle back to normal.  After our pep talk a couple of days ago he's shown a fire that I've been looking for for a while.  Now that we've peeled back many of the narcotics and his pain is under control his personality is starting to shine through and this makes me incredibly happy.
     Earlier this morning an artist came through and did a caricature for us.  Evan couldn't remember having one done before and he was very pleased with how it turned out.  I've said it many times, but the staff at this hospital has been outstanding in treating the mental and emotional, as well as the physical.  Tonight Evan and I will spend our evening watching the opening ceremony of the Olympics.  He's very excited to see this for the first time and looking forward to watching some of the events.

Having his picture drawn.