Bev Report: 5

I was too tired to post when I got back from the hospital last night. If I had made an entry, it would have been "orange alert", because she had another semi-emergency procedure to remove "hot" material from her abdomen. This time they just stuck in a needle and drew out some stuff, then put in a couple of drains: one in her abdomen, another in her diaphragm. Yes, we're turning into a Borg again.

The good news is that today she's doing better. More alert, more mobile, and fever coming down. The pain is being managed, and they're allowing soft foods. She tires easily, but it's good that she's to the point where she can tire herself, frankly. If we can go two or three days without another crisis, then I think we're on our way.

Keep praying. We're on a cusp, here.

Bev Report 5: significant improvement

Out of ICU at last! Hopefully not to see it again. Down to just a couple of tubes. Swelling way down, heart rate stabilizing. Voice coming back. Much more alert. White count was up this morning, but that's because she has a "touch of pneumonia". Never thought I'd be relieved to hear somebody had pneumonia, but it beats another abscess or other nasty internal infection. The critical care doc from the ICU paid a visit while we were there tonight, and he's personally overseeing her until she's out of danger. I think he's tired of seeing her in the ICU, too, and is going to be riding herd on the staff to make sure she gets the best care.

Bev Report 4: progress

Ventilator came out today...finally. Color is good. Some edema, but not too bad. Her kidneys are doing a good job processing fluids so the water weight should go down pretty quickly over the next couple of days. Hopefully this last infection is beaten for good. Still in ICU, but doing all right.

New Bird on the block

Hattie (my black & white mostly outdoor cat) was stalking a new bird today. I thought it was a woodpecker, but I'd never seen anything like it before. I looked it up on the Birdweb and discovered it to be a Northern Flicker. Nifty! The cat didn't have a chance. These are very alert birds, probably because they're ground feeders.

Bev Report 3: one step back

Got a call at 0200 last night: infection definite, they needed to go back in. They found some hot stuff, but thankfully no more holes. She's closed up, but back in ICU on a respirator. If she could be moved right now, I'd be campaigning to move her to a facility in Seattle. Harrison is not impressing me with their competence, here. Keep praying.

Bev Report 2

She's out of ICU. Still carrying a lot of extra fluids, so they're working on draining that from her system. More lucid, but still in a lot of pain. She's allowed to eat now, which is good because I took her some chocolate today. She was going to try some soup later. White cell count was up today, which isn't good, but her temperature is down. No matter what, she's probably looking at another week or two in the hospital.

The Bev Report

For people who may be wondering about the constant Twitter and Facebook status reports over the last week, "Bev" is a close friend of ours (and Gordon's jousting partner) who underwent an abdominal surgery a week ago Tuesday. A few days later she went septic, and when they went back in to see why they discovered a pinhole in her upper intestine, plus a twist in same. Ugh. She's been in intensive care ever since, and for awhile was critical and on a respirator.

We put out an APB for prayer.

She's doing better. Slowly. Still need that prayer, for body and soul.

As of this moment she's off the respirator and has fewer tubes, but she's still "out of it" and struggling.

Thanks to everybody who has put her on your "list". Don't stop.

School of the Renaissance Soldier: North Country Muster

Finally put the canvas away today. It's been hanging in the garage, drying since we returned last weekend. Yep: the first rainy weekend of the Fall is the weekend we decide to do a 16th century campout. Got some more footage. Now I have no excuse but to put a video together...

Update: Gordo's report