10:00 PM Sunday March 27, 2011

A quick update on Ed....... Dr. Matrisciano removed the port earlier this afternoon and the surgery went fine.  He left 2 drainage tubes in place until the infection clears.  Dr. Mazur (infectious disease specialist) came in this afternoon.  They are going to culture the port to see if they can find the source of the infection, but he said with Ed's white count so low, it could be from any one of a number of sources.  Ed is getting IV antibiotics for now and will probably continue to receive them until the blood cultures show no infection.  They got his fever down to 100.7 earlier today, but now tonight it's back up to 102.7, so he's laying with ice packs under each arm to help get his temperature down.  Not very comfortable for him, as he's got shivers and chills, but unfortunately, it's what has to be done.  Everyone has agreed his digestive tract is still not ready to have anything in it, even though he wants to eat. The diarrhea is back so we'll postpone the next eating experiment for a while.  He's just going to have to stay put until they can get a PICC line or another type of access in him, hopefully on Tuesday, because right now there isn't any line to use for his TPN and since he can't eat, he isn't getting any nutrition, just fluids.  His white count is down from 3.2 on Friday to .4 this afternoon, but his platelets and red count are still okay, so he may not need any blood this trip.  Anything to avoid having to put another needle into him is good news.  We're back to no visitors for a few days again, but once they get the infection cleared, his white count should start to go up.

Ed is pretty groggy from the surgery anesthesia and the pain meds he's getting and he'll probably sleep pretty soundly through the night.  Other than changing the surgery dressings, it should be a quiet night for him.  I will probably go home in a little bit and get some sleep since we're so close to Los Robles.  We came to ER this morning without bringing much of anything, and I'm not sure I can muster the uumph to go home and re-pack, especially after just getting it all put away yesterday for the first time since February 13th!  Ed's nurse tonight is Marie and she's wonderful.  She took care of Ed several of the roughest nights with the first round of chemo, so it makes me feel a little better to go home for a bit knowing she'll be here with him until 7 AM.  She has promised to call my cell if anything comes up.

More news tomorrow.  Hope you sleep soundly!