Day 15

Colorectal Fellow paid us a visit this morning (usual rounds). They are still deciding what to do with Lucy today. He is not anxious to do anything else invasive to her, as she has been through so much already. Maybe just a trip to IR/ultrasound again to aspirate the fluid, take out the drain on the right side - not very hip on placing drains on the left side. His belief is that the fluid is the same as what has already been drained, as there is really no reason to think otherwise. He is going to speak with Dr. Pena this morning and they will get back to us with a definite plan. So until he gets the word, we are still "nothing by mouth (NPO) until further notice.

After the ultrasound yesterday, Lucy finally got to eat, so we ordered everything we thought she would like from the hospital "room service" menu. Needless to say, she only ate a few bites of things. Not too much room in the belly when you have been NPO for 10+ days. Anyway, it was great to have some sort of normalcy creeping back in to our universe.

Ed is heading out today :-( Trying to find a open-ended flight is an exercise in complete frustration, so he is taking the car. He is going to drive back here when we get marching orders. The hospital has a transportation service, so as long as our discharge does not take place on a weekend, we will have a ride to a hotel. If it does happen on the weekend, we will just have to find a LARGE taxi. Every space in this room is full. Not sure how that happened. Also, he is taking the laptop with him, so this will be my last blog update until he gets back here.

In the meantime, we have bingo tonight in the A6 playroom, scrapbooking night on Tuesday, and other big events during the week, scheduled by the Child Life Department. We can look forward to more half-sleep nights, fabulous hospital dinners (really, they are not that bad, and pretty cheap too), x-rays, pokes and prods, wonderful nurses, and hospital coffee. The balloons Lucy picked out are sinking lower and lower to the ground, so we will go an pick out a couple more when we have a dull moment, as well as paint our nails, and watch ridiculous amounts of daytime cartoons and movies from the Child Life movie closet. If you need to contact me, our room is A4 South, 42 and our phone number is (513) 803-1442.

Thanks for all of your prayers!
Love,
Mel