In the hospital

James is doing great. Dr. Tenjarla, his GI doctor, when ahead and admitted him last night. He can have anything he wants by mouth, but nothing by g-tube. Miraculously, he has taken all of his meds by mouth and, most of the time, willlingly! (thanks, in part, I am sure to grape flavored syrup!).

He has an IV and is getting fluids and he has been eating some, which is good (though the choice of foods is certainly not optimal!). Since we haven't used his g-tube in since 10 a.m. yesterday, it is doing much better and we do not think it is going to erode may more.

James got his last dose of steroids this morning, by mouth, and we are hopeful that things will only get better from here.

We have been blest to have nurses on his team--that means we know them and they know us. All have been tickled to see James and we are glad to see them too.

I haven't seen his counts yet, but have heard they are very good. His protocol calls for James to get chemo tonight, but they are wondering if they should give him a break. I think we should press on, as long as his counts are good.

Other numbers: While home, we figured that last year, between 28 February and 20 November, James and I (and mostly Hannah) spent at least 118 days in one hospital or another. Our last discharge date was 20 November, 2007, which was 106 days before our most recent admit (last night, 5 March). The main reason we are here is to prevent James' g-tube from further eroding. As soon as we can safely use the g-tube again (Sun, Mon, Tues would be my not-very-educated guess--the educated folks aren't making any guesses yet :*)).

The hardest thing is that James' IV is in his hand (we had the choice of putting it in his main signing hand or in his walking foot--so we chose the hand). Taping up his hand is almost the same as putting a gag around his mouth, but he really doesn't want to walk either, since he is uncomfortable using his taped and boarded arm to hold on to things. Occasionally, he growls (James on steroids), but mostly he is doing well. I think he'll be really glad to 1) have the family visit or 2) go home!

Later I hope to share some more thoughts on our ending up here and some of the silver linings.

Thanks for checking on us! Be blessed!

Love, Stephanie