Saturday, November 2, 2013 10:00pm

On a Bit of a Roller Coaster

Friday was a good day for John.  He worked really hard at both physical therapy and occupational therapy and was making progress.  But it was hard work!  A main task for occupational therapy was a real shower! That was a task, but John felt so wonderful!  He was even able to shave himself - all this the first time since Oct. 21.  Right after that the wound care team came and checked, cleaned and redressed the wounds.  Both sites were started on the "wound vac" which really makes progress in the healing.  The only bummer in the day was John's continuing difficulty with swallowing and coughing/choking at times throughout all the workouts.  John was just exhausted and fell asleep early, so Elisa and I were home by 8 pm for the first time.

Today Elisa and I planned to go in around 10 am since the schedule is less intense on the weekend. However, John called at 7 and was in "a bit of trouble" after a bad night and wanted us right away.  Turns out he could not swallow anything at all! Even a small ice chip would have him coughing it right back out and he had had no pain meds.  It was a rough day - just can't go into all the details, but he had many tests and many were negative (praise God!) including his heart is doing well.  But he is back on IV fluids because he is severely dehydrated and also on oxygen for the first time.  Continuing severe anemia may be a real culprit in his increasing weakness.  Later tonight he will have an MRI of his throat area and head - we'll look forward to results in the morning.  These are crappy setbacks, but John will persevere as you well know.  Just keep on praying.