Sunday, December 19

Today was a pretty good day for Dad. They've now taken him off all of his blood pressure medications, and in the morning they took him off a medication that helps dilate blood vessels around the heart. They had stopped the same medication for several hours on Saturday but he didn't respond particularly well, so they were having another go at it today with the hope that if he did well without it they'd be able to remove the yellow line going into his neck by the evening. Sure enough, the evening report was that the yellow line was gone. We are also told that his morning chest x-ray was a tiny bit better than the previous day's, so we hope that his pneumonia is improving. His color seemed slightly better, but I'm beginning to think that it all has to do with the lighting. On Saturday, the lights in the room were all on, but today they were dim so maybe the yellow skin just doesn't show as well. His medical team continues to be unconcerned about the jaundice.

Mom was at the hospital mostly on her own today. I was in for the 12:30 visit but unable to make the other two because of Brian's work schedule. Amy and Katie planned to be at the 8:30 visit but were thwarted by an ice storm that made the roads dangerous. Mom wasn't aware of the snow and ice until she realized that the waiting room wasn't filling up for the 8:30 visit. By the time she left, the roads were horrible--she saw several cars off the road, one flipped over on the median, and the traffic was crawling along at 5 m.p.h. or less. The real problem was the unavoidable hill between the interstate and her neighborhood--she tried several routes before being able to make it up one of the hills, and then she slid down the hill in front of her house in first gear. But she made it home in one piece, thank God--all we need is BOTH parents in the hospital this week!