April 18, 2011 - Another hurdle to get over

Jason had a pretty good day today, as the surgery was quick (as his surgeries have gone) and when we spoke with the doctor, she told us his wounds were doing quite well. There were no signs of any of the infection or fungus found, and they were taking some steps to close the wounds more. All this was good and we were happy to hear it, however, she did say that Jason now has pneumonia and that is the reason he has been running a high fever for the past few days. They took a culture and are determining exactly which anti-biotich they need to use to clear it up. Jason has been running a fever at around 102 - 103 degrees for the past three days, and due to a simple mistake he actually spiked at 105.4 (more about that later). He says he has been feeling a little achey all over, but otherwise he has felt fine, and you can carry on a pretty good conversation with him, so his mind is working well.

He is also eating a little better now, though it is still a clear liquid diet for the next 24 hours, and then they want him to begin working on more solids. All of his internal organs seem to be working correctly, and they would like to keep it that way, and therefore the reason for him to eat more. As soon as he can eat a substantial amount of solid foods they will take off the I.V., and that will be one less set of "hook ups" on him. They did have to reopen the incision on his stomach, as there was a concern for infection there, but it seems to be okay, and they want to leave it "open" for another day, and then probably close it back up on Wednesday, during the next surgery. Yes, that was surgery on Wednesday, rather than Thursday. Because of a potential infection they want to have him back in surgery on Wednesday, instead of Thursday. Now, the caveat is that if the "infection" should go away tomorrow, then they will switch back to the Thursday schedule. We'll just have to wait and see what happens tomorrow and hope for the best.

Along with the information we received on Jason, Linda went in to have her eyes looked at, as she has been having problems with vision and just not feeling well. The eye doctor did some tests she has not had done before, and they determined she is getting some extra pressure in her right eye, and want her to come back in a few weeks. The difficulty is that they don't have a base line to go with so they will use today as a starting point and check it in a few weeks.

We also learned today that Jason will probably be here (NNMC- Bethesda) for another six weeks or so. It will be that long before they are ready for him to consider moving to a wheel chair, and he won't be able to move on to his physical therapy until he can get around in a wheel chair. If you extrapolate that out - we (Mom and Dad) won't be back in Livermore until sometime in June, at the earliest. As for where Jason is going to be going for extended physical therapy, well, it hasn't been decided yet, and actually not even something he has been talking about yet. Right now there are still too many variables. On a positive note, Bridgette has really learned how to make him smile, just like it should be, and when she went over to see him this evening she did an excellent job of doing just that. She went over, and put on the protective things we all wear when we see him, including the mask. Well, both Jason and Bridgette are big "Young Frankenstein" fans so when it came to the time of saying good night they spontaneously did the elbow rub, and had a good laugh (now you all are going to to have to go out and get a copy of the movie, just to see what I'm talking about).

Thank you, all again for all your prayers and keeping Jason and his family in your hearts. If you would also continue with prayers for Linda, too, I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you all and God Bless you all.