Train Analogy Continues: Moved to the Siding Track

11 AM     This morning Dr. Paul (the attending this week) came to tell Jon that he is responding well to the antibiotics and they will try to refine the meds so they are giving him more precisely what is useful. At the moment the drugs are for a broad spectrum of possible ills, but they can use the blood results to try to reduce the number of antibiotics, which will make getting out of this room quicker.

But the bad news, from our perspective, is that the transplant is on hold until he finishes this round of antibiotics and there is clear evidence that he is cured of the current infection. There is an undetermined infection in his lungs -- I asked if that is called pneumonia and they said yes, this is totally common -- and he can't have anything like that and get the transplant.  So we may be delayed another week. While the train is not technically stopped, it is moving much slower and it has been put on the siding track.

The good news is that none of the viruses they tested for came back positive. This feels like a big relief to me.  And while I was typing this, the N.P. came in and told him that they want to put a scope down his nose to do a biopsy of the fluid that is in his lungs -- trying to identify this fungus so they can address it more specifically. (This news makes Jon very grumpy. They always say that he won't remember a procedure and he usually does remember it. Twinkly drugs don't do it for him.) She also said that they are taking him off the vancomycin because they found no more staph in his blood.  One small victory.

He will definitely be in this hospital bed through the weekend. He is looking pretty disgruntled by now, but no fever and no pain. They just need to keep him here because this is how he gets the IV drugs. Rebecca is coming up to hang out with him and I will go back to the farm tomorrow to take a look around.

Meanwhile, back at the farm, everything is going well. The equipment is still working, the plants look beautiful in the greenhouse, there is a load ready to be washed and packed for the Sunday market.

I am going to start working on a Plan B for the daytime part of this caregiver role if this is going to go all the way into April. I still want to be here every night but I need to be more accessible to the farm after mid-April.

This is turning into a really long story. It's like a medical soap opera with installments that move the story along by the centimeter.

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