Aug 1 (Wednesday) - 155pm

Afternoon update.   Starting with Jeannette, she was more awake today.  She can communicate with blinking, and she is scheduled for another round of surgery this afternoon (around 245pm or so) to once again clean our her abdominal area.  This was pre-planned for today, and is not something unexpected.     Right now her "gut" seems to be their top concern today, making sure that the repairs are correct, and that there are no sources of infection.  Her gastric tube has been problematical, and they are going to address that as part of today's procedure and they may remove it completely.   Her white blood cell count is up some today, but the surgery should address that issue directly.    

There is talk today about changing the ventilator she is on to something else involving a tracheostomy? Apparently there are limits on how long they want to leave someone on the ventilator they are using, and if she is not ready to come off of it yet then this alternative may be necessary.   That was part of the discussions today and I'm not certain a decision was made on how that will play out or when.   

Speaking of 'gut' issues, Rich is getting a MRI scan of his "gut" today, and it appears they want to double check what was done surgically and to make sure there are no pockets of infection.    Also, his feeding line was changed out; it wasn't working right and so they  moved it to a 'central line' and that seems to have fixed the concerns with that they had been having.    The really good news for Rich is that his lungs are looking "fantastic" and they may remove him from the ventilator this evening!   He is mentally awake, and back to the fidgety self he was, and all in all its a positive afternoon with lots of things in progress. - John