Day 233, Year 9: Slow but Steady Progress
Date: Wednesday, June 11, 2014
Weather: Partly Sunny, Cooling Down
Location: At “Porat’s by the Bay” in Greenland, NH
I’m happy to report that the patient is making slow but steady progress, with an emphasis on STEADY. Mark was able to eat a little more today, walk a little more, and definitely sleep a little more! He eats a little, drinks a little, sleeps a little, and then starts the cycle all over again. All bodily systems are working normally, but we still have this drainage issue. And about that, we have more questions than answers about his lymphatic leak. We weren’t able to get through to the doctor today. We left a list of our questions with her answering service and hopefully we will hear from her in the morning. In the meantime we are only guessing at what is happening. The internet offers a plethora of information, but we know too little to probably analyze what we are reading. We do not even know what kind of lymphatic leak he has and what might have caused it. So once again we wait. What we do know is that the fluid that is collecting in the drain bulb has a very, very high triglyceride level as per testing done yesterday. Triglyceride is just a fancy word for fat, and we know that he has been put on a NO FAT diet to try and curb the leakage. And we guess that the leakage was caused due to trauma from the surgery. So we are working on learning just what it means to be on a NO FAT diet and how at the same time to get the vitamins and minerals necessary to stay healthy. He’s drinking Ensure Clear, the new V-8 all fruit and veggie drinks that have the equivalent of one serving of fruit and one of vegetables in each can, and tonight we added Gatorade for the electrolytes. I must say that the latter really perked him up, so we’ll try a little more tomorrow.
Another thing that perked Mark up today was a visit from Alan and Helaine Kanegsberg. They were in the area getting their boat ready to launch tonight at the 2 am high tide. They don’t need to be there for the launch but they did need to do the last minute preparations today. The timing was perfect for Mark as it was so nice to just sit and talk with them. Mark has seen only nurses, doctors, and me for the past six days. Talking with Tom and Detta last evening when we arrived here and talking with Alan and Helaine today helped him feel like he is really re-entering the ‘normal’ world again. Well, at least re-entering the real world. I’m not sure the world is in any way ‘normal’ any more.
