Right Now, Emesis is Steve's Nemesis

It's 8:15 pm and I'm finally just now logging onto the computer for the first time today.  I went home last night to take care of the kids while Steve's sister, Chris, and his mom went back to the hospital to be with Steve.  It was the first time in 11 days that I'd been home more than a few hours and by myself with the kids and I think we all needed it.  It was a peaceful night and we all slept in the same room...the kids loved that.  Then this morning after I dropped the kids off at school, I went to my own doctor appointment.  It was the first time Steve had ever missed one of my oncology appointments.  Dr. McNamara didn't even really know what to say to me.  He'd been so used to having Steve there to joke around with him.  Instead my parents went with me and the whole appointment just felt awkward without Steve.  Afterward, my parents went with me to Target to buy stuff for the kids' Easter baskets.  Even with everything going on, I would have never forgiven myself if I had forgotten the Easter baskets...that would be reprehensible.

I got to the hospital at 5 pm and found out that Steve had another grueling and eventful night and day.  Last night his fever spiked to a little over 103 and it never got below 102.  He got delirious and confused again and I think we've finally figured out that he has those episodes when his fever is spiking.  Needless to say, it was an exhausting night for Chris and Me-Mom and neither got any sleep.  Of course Steve never got any sleep either and that is a factor in his delirium as well.  I found out the nurses call that ICU psychosis.  It's caused by shock, pain meds, and complete lack of any decent blocks of sleep.  Anyway, this morning Steve had a CT scan which showed that the chest tubes he currently has are working, they are draining the fluid around the lungs.  And Dr. Hanpeter performed another broncoscopy to suction the lungs.  So now the big question is what is causing the fever?  Apparently, the doctors know for sure that Steve has pneumonia which is being treated with antibiotics.  And they know he is a very high risk for infection elsewhere, his jaw and the actual path that the bullet traveled through his chest.  So they are treating him with very strong antibiotics in the hopes that this will neutralize any possible infection.  The bad thing about the very strong antibiotics is that they kill the good bacteria in the GI tract which is causing a lot of emesis.  Throwing up sucks when your mouth is wired shut...

On to better news, Steve sat in a chair yesterday!  That was huge.  He communicated quite a bit with writing notes, although he didn't write at all today.  But that might just be because he doesn't have much to say.  His expressions are saying it all and we are understanding those better.  The physical therapist came today to evaluate Steve, particularly his swollen left arm.  According to the PT, the lymph nodes in the chest on the left side have been traumatized which appears to be causing lymphedema.  So they wrapped his arm in a compression bandage and they will monitor that over the weekend.

Because of constant interruptions in Steve's room, it took me almost two hours to compose this post, but I think that explains the day.  After a good night's sleep last night, I'm feeling more positive than I have since this whole situation started.  I didn't cry nearly as much today.