Time to feed the dogs

I cannot believe I haven't posted today.

Mary is doing fine although we are concerned that the abdominal drain has finally healed up and stopped flowing. The liquid it has been producing must now learn to exit via normal channels. Because of this change in fluid flow, Mary is showing a bit of bloat and that scares us all because of the episode in the hospital with bloat and SIADH. Mary is on a diet of salt tablets, 6,000mg per day, along with all her other foods so some fluid retention is expected. Yes, we have called the hospital, yes we talked to a doctor and we are welcome to come to ED at any time but the regular appointment in the morning is probably soon enough. Reenie and I have reviewed this blog to figure out what early signs of a problem are so we can react, if necessary, in the middle of the night.

The day has been very quiet. Mary took a walk outside and did a couple laps around the crown of the hill we live on. The lots are about 100 ft wide so one lap is probably 700 feet and she did two complete laps. Bill, our neighbor, joined us as we did the laps just to say hello and provide moral support. Thanks, Bill!

Mary is eating well, spending a lot of time sitting up and in conversation with Reenie, me or her kids. She does take an afternoon nap about 2PM for a couple of hours but otherwise is awake, reading, watching TV (TiVo) and doing her crossword puzzles. Other than moving slow and easy, she is clearly gaining strength and heading to normalcy.

Right now, she is in the shower and getting all clean. We wrap her torso in Saran Wrap to make sure the open parts of the incision do not collect water. Otherwise, she is showering on her own using the shower stool I acquired after the gall bladder operation.

I am not sure if I will post again tonight. We are definitely at Stanford at 7:30AM for blood test draw and Dr. Visser at 8:30AM.