Monday, December 27

I've been unable to visit Dad since Christmas Eve because of a nasty cold I've got, but I've been getting regular updates from Mom. Today there was at least one positive sign--his bilirubin count was down to 11 (half what it was before, although still quite high!) so his color was much improved. They didn't do a chest x-ray this morning, and in fact it seems as if they won't be doing them daily--they want to get Dad onto a more regular day and night schedule, and those 5 a.m. x-rays would not be conducive to this. This gives us confidence that they are feeling positive about his pneumonia. They have also been cutting back his fentanyl from time to time, and Mom reported that this afternoon he was disturbingly agitated as a result.

The tracheostomy is scheduled for 10:00 a.m. tomorrow and we won't be able to visit for several hours after that. In preparation for the surgery, they reinserted an i.v. in his neck this afternoon, which I hope will be removed shortly after the surgery.