Time sure flies when you are having fun! Yesterday was our 4 week anniversary in the hospital. No cupcakes please :-)

It has been a rough week for Graeme and there have been a few changes.

• Graeme had the MRI on Monday and an ultrasound of his abdomen on Tuesday. Both show necrosis in a section of the pancreas but some of the remaining tissue is doing what it should be meaning the dye they use is indicating a regular flow. Again, we won't know how much damage has been done to the function of the pancreas until he starts eating again and unfortunately, we don't have a timeline on that.
• The pain medication has been decreased from 6 mg long lasting Dilaudid every 12 hours to 3 mg. There have been some issues with withdrawal but they seem to be sorted out now.
• The "food" they are using with the feeding tube has changed to Peptamen 1.5 which basically is the same stuff just a higher calorie count. Graeme is down about 10 lbs now and we would prefer he not lose any more.
• Where last week Graeme seemed to have quite a bit of energy, this week he is very, very tired. It may be withdrawal too but it could also easily be from being in the hospital for so long :-)
• Graeme had a bit of a fever on Monday morning and his white blood cell count went up slightly so they have put him back on a wide spectrum antibiotic. They also did a blood culture but it has come back negative. The antibiotic needs to run for two weeks but it can apparently be taken orally so that shouldn't keep us here once Graeme is good to go. Unfortunately, we still don't know exactly when that will be either.
• I learned something new this week. I thought they would be able to tell if the pancreas was infected using a blood test but apparently the pancreas can be infected and keep it to itself. The way they test for bacteria (and fungus) in the pancreas is to do a fine needle aspiration which involves putting a really small needle through Graeme's back and into the pancreas. We aren't sure when or if that is going to happen. They are trying to let the pancreas do as much as possible on it's own.
• Turns out vomiting doesn't help a feeding tube much! The nurses had to remove the tube about 10 pm on Thursday night and then Graeme got a new one put in Friday afternoon. It happened again this afternoon too so the doctor is going to give Graeme a couple days of vacation from the feeding tube. The saline IV has been switched to one with a few more nutrients. I'm nagging Graeme to eat what he can so we keep his calories up.
• Some good news. We have been put on a transfer list to go to Hamilton. The new doctor spoke to the Gastro-Intestine doctor at Mac and they are discussing a "social patriation". Cross your fingers for us :-)

Hope you all have a chance to enjoy the wonderful sunshine and spring-like temperatures this weekend,
Gail