C - Day + 5 (Tuesday)

Jennifer is AWESOME!! That's why I love her. Oh. She's doing well too.

Today was pretty busy.

The Doctor from the plastic surgery team came in for his assessment. He informed us that the arm splint will not be removed until tomorrow but suggested we may also be discharged tomorrow. He also said everything else is looking good. Good news.

Jennifer's goal is to get the trach out soon, hopefully before we get discharged. We will be cutting it to the wire.

She's up to her hourly goal on feeding and ready to move from the pump feed, which is a constant feed, to a gravity feed, which can be administered more cyclically (breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack). To bad the surgical regimen doesn't offer the wide variety of flavors/meals that Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers, or meals on wheels has to offer. I guess it doesn't matter, since nothing's being taken orally, but it would be neat to relabel the various cans of FiberOne dietary supplement as "Luscious Liver and Onions," "Double Cheeseburger, hold the Mayo," etc....but then have it all look like the chocolate milk it currently resembles.

Our speech pathologist came by, inserted a PMV, which is a one-way valve that allows Jennifer to talk again. And none too soon....I love hearing her beautiful voice again (although faint and hoarse), and she's tired of my inability to interpret sign language to the point she was about to rip my head off a few times. Now we understand each other much better....she only wants to rip my head off half the time (about the same levels as before she had surgery).

The PMV was the next step in the process to removing the trach altogether. The next and last step is to cap the trach for 24 hours to determine how Jennifer handles it. If all goes well, we will get the order to remove the trach for good. Jennifer's short-term goal is about to be realized.

The occupational therapist was very pleased with Jennifer's physical progress (see yesterday's post). She told Jennifer to stop wearing holes in the floor and to move around the hospital campus. Tomorrow, or later tonight, we may go see the sights via the Observation Deck near the penthouse of our luxury resort. Until then, she got to enjoy a shampoo and head massage at the local beauty parlor. She really enjoyed that.

While we were out, the physician came to place the cap on the trach...man our timing has sucked lately. The nurses are trying to track him down for us.

5:00 pm
The treatment here has been fabulous. Alas, our stay at Spa de Anderson is almost complete. They are telling us we have to leave soon. Hmmm. Did my check bounce? I hope jennifer liked the trip to exotic Houston I got for her our 15th anniversary.

10:00 pm
I had left for a few hours to check on the house, eat, clean up, and talk to Bo. When I came back, Jennifer had the cap on her trach. Again. She is Awesome. Everybody else should be jealous of me. Sorry, got a little carried away.

The next step on the trach adventure is to pull it out. I hope I get to see it -- purely from a scientific perspective. We have a perfectly good PMV cap that was only used for a few hours, like a car only driven to church on Sundays. I wonder what they fetch on eBay? Just kidding people...it probably illegal, but I'll still see if people are doing it.

I thank everybody for their prayers and support. We can't make it through this journey without you. However, after 7 days of practically living at Spa de Anderson, I've seen a lot of patients and family members at various stages of their journeys. Just today, I overheard an elderly man telling a volunteer, as he was wheeled out of the hospital, "I came here with two kidneys and a lot of cancer. Now, I'm leaving with one kidney and no cancer." Journey ending, it appears to be a success. I also saw a young teenage girl embarking on her journey, somewhat intrigued with the process she went through today. Her parents were discussing that they were there for twelve hours, at the same time, looking at a hospital map to get their bearings. This was clearly their first time here. The outcome...unknown. We're somewhere in between these two paths. I sure pray ours is a success. But, for the others, please say a special prayer. I do.


O Saint Peregrine, you who have been called "The Wonder-Worker" because of the numerous miracles which you have obtained from God for those who have had recourse to you, who for so many years bore in your own flesh this cancerous disease that destroys the very fiber of our being, and who had recourse to the source of all grace when the power of man could do no more: you who were favored with the vision of Jesus coming down from His Cross to heal your affliction, ask of God and Our Lady the cure of these sick persons whom we entrust to you (Jennifer). Aided in this way by your powerful intercession, we shall sing praise to God for His great goodness and mercy. Amen.