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Mood still hopeful--as long as I don't think about unpaid bills. Tammy writes of our Dad:

He is still having some stiffness, and his temperature is still slightly elevated (~100.2?), but both are improved since yesterday. His blood culture came back positive for some bacteria, so they have started an antibiotic again. They want to be sure it's not staph (results pending), but the lowness of the fever is encouraging. The nurse said they don't usually worry when it's under 101.5.

Right now, they are still working on keeping Dad's blood pressure down. It was at a good level when we were in, but only because they had reverted to the nitro drip. Their goal is to have it controlled with oral meds: when that happens, he can leave the ICU.

The nurse also told me that they had stopped his morphine this morning. He has not yet worked it all out of his system, so he is still somewhat less coherent than usual, but inproving. She also says that his hemoglobin is still holding constant between 10 and 11, which is a reasonable amount of variation, though the whole range is lower than most people's. Also, the respiratory tech says he is being tapered off his oxygen. He is getting only a third of what he was getting a few days ago, and his blood oxygen level is good (~92-97).

He is also supposed to start a clear liquid diet today, which is good--he hasn't had more than a couple bites of ice cream and applesauce by mouth in the last week. The applesauce is what the nurse used to get a crushed pill into him, since he can't have water: she said his swallowing looks good, which is encouraging, since the ventilator tube can result in swallowing problems.

Dr. Ingrassia says that Dad's lungs are much improved from yesterday.
 
Songs, thank you for your good words to me above. And of course it isn't you who lied--it was I!

Forgive me, Vanessa! I confess my deceitfulness! Yes, I lied, I admit it, I hate myself so much, I don't know what came over me! All these months on the forum I've claimed to be a U.S. Navy veteran...but I actually served in the SWISS Navy!
 
Don't worry about it, Songs; most of us on the forum get slapped down occasionally. Maybe this will pick you up: the latest letter from your niece reached me today, and in it she talks about her job hopes. Please e-mail me with the ages of her kids; I frankly can't afford to BUY them Christmas gifts, but depending on their ages I might HAVE already something they could use, which I could SEND to them.
 
About this time tomorrow, I'll be _thousands_ of feet off the ground, headed for Illinois for Thanksgiving.

In the words of Bill Cosby: "Hope the plane don't crash!" I have things to do still, before the grand reunion.
 
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