July 13

After a rough-ish morning, JR had a pretty good day today. I visited him and Lucille this morning and JR was having some double-you-over stomach cramps with audible gut gurgling. We were pretty concerned for a short while until he began relating that he'd had multiple drugs to promote gastric action. He asked for some oral pain med and got a little relief from that. I left around 1 this afternoon and went back at 4.

David, Wanda and Lucille were there this afternoon and JR looked and said he felt much better than during the morning. The cramping had stopped. During a nurse's visit I asked about the meds he was taking that might induce cramping. She said that one of the drugs was a laxative and that he didn't have to take it unless he felt he needed help in that area. YAY! Normal for one person isn't always normal for everyone, so she told him not to worry about refusing it if he was feeling well and "things" were moving normally.

I got to meet Dr McNeil this evening and enjoyed hearing his take on JR's situation. Dr. MN said that there were "several" people leaving the skilled nursing (PT & rehab) unit (upstairs at Citizens) tomorrow morning and that they should have a spot for JR tomorrow afternoon. His view of the "lesions" on JR's lung was that there was something on the CT scan but nothing that they could identify. They have run multiple tests all showing no signs of cancer. The lung lesions could be an anomolly that will disappear on its own, or it could be something that will present itself more clearly in a few weeks. Dr. MN will see JR 2-3 times a week while in skilled nursing. Dr. Adams will not see JR during his stay in skilled nursing.

Dr McNeil figures that Adams will order a follow up xray and CT scan in about a month and depending on those views, he'll determine if another course of action is needed. For now, the plan is to build JR's strength in two-a-days upstairs so that he can walk 600 feet without much difficulty. Dr MN said that he originally thought JR would need 1-2 weeks of PT and rehab but after seeing JR looking good and sitting up tonight Dr MN didn't think it would take that long. Dr thinks they might be able to get JR back home in 7-10 days (maybe less!!) depending on how he responds to the PT and rehab. The dr did say that JR might need nursing care at home but that we'd cross that bridge later.

JR is still on antibiodics and flomax for his uriniary track infection and should be seeing a urologist in the next day or two. Other meds he's on are his normal thyroid medication, Lyrica and Colase. He gets oral vicodin as needed for pain, and only had one dose of that today.

That's all for now, things are looking much better from a week ago!