Taking a Turn

Joe had a pretty good weekend.  Saturday was a pretty good day in good spirits and overall felt good, however, he does have a staph infection in his central line - not good. On Sunday, his blood counts started to drop as anticipated and by Wednesday he won't have any immune system.  The surgeon is removing the central line at 5:30 am tomorrow and it will be out for 48 hours and then will be reinserted in on the other side of his chest. Of course this is very concerning since his immune system and platelets (ability for blood to clot) are all compromised.  His nurse today described the staph infection as "getting angry".  It's very red with drainage.  He also has a sore by his mouth that the doctor didn't like today and is taking a culture to see what is going on there.  On the positive side of all of that, he has no fever which is excellent given this recent turn of events.

While he does have this infection, he continues to be in good spirits.  We're taking daily walks around the floor (our route shown above).  His appetite is really starting to diminish and he's forcing himself to eat.  Baby John brought a smile to his face today along with visits from mom's friend, Joyce, Sarah and Ricky.  

I could tell today, he's starting to get pretty fatigued (of course, he says "I don't know why I'm so tired").....  I just laughed at him.  Visiting days are about over with his immune system leaving.  We anticipate at least two more weeks in the hospital.  Not sure how the central line staph infection will impact his overall hospital say, if at all.  

The nurses tell us this will be his worst week with the side effects and with the staph infection, just makes things worse.  We still anticipate he will lose about 20lbs in the next two weeks.

The good news...he still has all his hair!!  

Thanks for all your prayers and support!