August 10 (Friday) - midnight

Tonight's update marks another good day, and the things to report are all positive.   I saw Jeannette early evening, and she was recovering well from her surgery yesterday.   Her abdominal surgery went well, and that all important repair was 'completed' and appears to be behind us.    That's tremendous news, great news, and today she was resting comfortably, her "color" good, her eyes open and bright.  Those all important numbers were all right where they want them too, and the improvement in just the last few days is remarkable.     She was not in any pain (that she would admit to).  One of her two broken legs was also repaired yesterday as well, and they also worked on one of her ams too, so slowly each item that has needed addressing is clearly being taken care of one by one.   So, that marks a lot of progress to report and clearly she is improving and getting stronger.    

Rich too is getting stronger.   His broken arm is now in a real cast, and he was trying to figure out what he wanted for dinner when I was there.   He was into the "health food"  (mesquite chicken salad entre) tonight, and it made me smile to see him hungry and wanting to eat.   I pointed out there was a salmon plate too on the menu, but he thought that was a "little much right now".     Another thing to report is that he has really enjoyed his visitors, and that's good news.   Clearly, the conversations he has had have help him to stimulate his mind, and his memories are intact and he's "all there" now.   I think Mary Ann has really appreciated your visits as well, as it gives her the time to make the run upstairs into the ICU.   It's so hard to be two places at once!  Hospital rooms can be boring places to be, so the friends that drop by and say "hi" and the little diversions that help Rich get well (walks down the hall) are the big hallmarks of his day.

One of the things I really noticed today was that the level of care difference between the ICU where Jeannette is staying and the regular hospital room where Rich is and they are in stark contrast to one another.   If Rich wants something he has to call for it; and the nurses do not tend to come into his room very often.  There are no machines making noise in Rich's room, no "bleeps" and no lines racing graphs across computer screens.    The tubes are gone  too for the most part, and he has been "unplugged" and no longer looks like an astronaut getting ready for a moon mission.      But with his improved health and his new room, you do not see a nurse very often, and at times that is frustrating for us.    

In contrast, Jeannette is still surronded by the buzz of the screens, and there are still the tubes and IV drips and all the rest of it.   But even so to me things seems  much less hectic there than they did only a few days ago.    The computerized graphs all look great to me, and she too is slowly needing less and less of the support equipment.    Still, there is comfort in the ICU that comes with seeing her high level of care, and Jeannette has a nurse there almost constantly, and her medical team seems  attuned to everything going on at any given time.  

And so, as I close this update I realize that I have said things, but yet even so there are no big news items in the words I've written.   And that's a great thing.   As I am writing this note, it is clear that it is time to change the updates that we  have been posting.   Simply put, the hourly changes and "big news" items are no longer the norm, thankfully, and with the improvements in their status there is no longer the need to make the mid-day reports.   Thankfully and hopefully the critical ups and downs that have been a roller coaster ride for all of us over these past few weeks are behind us now, and to this observer things finally seem to be moving with a slow and steady process in the right direction.   Consequently, these updates will likely get smaller, and less frequent, and eventually much less frequent.    

That said, Jeannette is still quite sick, not yet ready for visitors, and the all important "discharge plan" for Rich has not been worked out yet.   Eventually they are both going to need help from their friends, and it will clearly be a while before they are ready to drive anywhere or move back home.   But the conversations now include discharge plans, where things needs to go next, what kind of rehabilitation options exists, etc.   To me, the casual observer, those kinds of discussions are good ones to hear. -- John