July 31 (Tuesday) - 1125am

Rich's temperature hit 98.6 a little while ago, and even I recognize that as a great number to see.   They have him still sedated, with the ventilator breathing deep, working the fight against the pneumonia according to the doctor's careful orchestrated plan.   The feeling I get from talking with Sam is that she is well pleased with his new hospital, and the staff that is working on him.   She likes the aggressive nature of the treatment, the "go after it" mentality that seems to be working.    Although he is "out of it", his little feet are dancing in the bed, and he's clearly fidgety.   Of course, for those of us who know Rich all so well, nothing less would be expected.

Jeannette is steady, and there are improvements since she had her surgery last night.   One of the things they did was to clean out her abdominal area, and as a result of that her white blood cell count is down today, much improved from what it was prior to the surgery.   It is still high from what Sam says, but they are pleased with the improved numbers so apparently some real progress was made, and they may "repeat the surgery" tomorrow as well.   The fight continues today, and it appears right now that they plan to send her to that all important MRI, to get the detailed look/see that modern technology offers.   Its a big step, and in order to put her into that machine she has to be stable enough to make it happen.  So, the fact that they can do it now is a very real mark of progress.  

There are still concerns about her pulmonary embolism; it's still there, but they are attempting to define it.   In a healtlhy person they would inject a dye into the blood to track the circulatory system, and they may do that yet to her as well.   But for now they are looking with ultra-sound, while at the same time reducing the level of blood thinners in a carefully and methodical search for the perfect balance.  Again, I am reminded of the art of medicine as much as the science.    As I write this update it is all too clear she is still very sick, but there are good things happening and the medical team seems on top of everything. --John