A decent night's sleep

Last night was a pretty good night, for being in the hospital. Everyone was very understanding about our exhaustion level and we slept, with lots of interruptions, until about 10:00 this morning. I am starting to feel normal. Hannah slept really well on the extra bed in the room, so that is good for me and for her!


I mentioned the concern about Hannah staying tonight to James' oncologist during rounds and not too long after, Jenn, one of our favorite nurses from the oncology floor came up and spoke to the charge nurse about what an integral part of James' care team she and Katie are. It looks like that won't be a problem in the future, PTL!


The wound ostomy nurse came to take a look at James' g-tube site and tell us the best course of treatment. She thought that the interim plan the night nurse came up with was the perfect solution. She also thought that the ulcer looked pretty bad. Hannah did say it had improved since last night. Since we are on the med/surg floor that handles GI stuff too, we are meeting a new group of nurses who actually have a lot of GI experience. This is good for us! We will probably move down to the oncology floor tomorrow, but it would be okay to stay here.


I forgot to mention that we have also been busy with our chickens. We processed them Tuesday. Processed is a euphemism for slaughter, dress (scald, pluck, eviscerate--by hand), and shrink wrap. We had some great extra help and processed nearly a hundred birds in just under six hours. Thanks Philip, Billie and Sarah!


Our other new addition to the processing team this year is a Featherman Scalder that we purchased from Schafer Farms. I am usually the one running the scalder, so I saw the most immediate benefit. I hope to write up a nice 'review' of the Featherman soon. It significantly improved my efficiency!


On Wednesday, we celebrated Carrie's 4th birthday. She actually turned 4 on March 30th, but I was still in the hospital with James in Minnesota and she had just been in Georgia for about five days. We didn't do all the usual birthday things, but she did get to pick her dinner meal (waffles, strawberries, whipped cream and fried eggs, with apple juice) and we sang our Happy Birthday songs many times. I think the singing is what she missed the most!

Thanks for checking up on us. Please pray that we can control James' pain well (and that it would subside soon) and that the wireless connection will remain good so I can post some photos!