Ron is having another good day! :)  Drs. Jamal and Mahajan said his x-rays and CT all look good with his chest tube clamped off, so they will probably take that out tomorrow.  I'm a little nervous about how his heart will react to that...  I guess they don't numb him or anything - just pull it out.

His hemoglobin is up to 8.0, today (was 7.6 Thursday, 7.3 Friday and Saturday), so that downward trend has stopped for now.  :)  I want to ask what other tests they are doing to check on why it is still so low.  (Normal is 12-15.) The GT doctor indicated they would do tests, but I haven't heard any more. 
 
He did better with the tube food on only 50% last night.  He has to eat very slowly, but he ate his whole breakfast, lunch, and supper today.  I don't know what the plan is for tonight, whether they can discontinue the tube food or not.  Jen, his nurse took out his catheter today, so tomorrow they plan to do more physical therapy and rehabilitation.  If all goes well, Jen said they may take him off the saline IV fluids tomorrow, too.  His pic-line will remain for "just-in-case" IV access.  They draw blood from it, and can give his Fentanyl through it.
 
Doris, his respiratory therapist, has had him on C-pap mode on the vent twice today...  from 8:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., and from 3:30 p.m. until now (8:15 p.m.).  He did great both times -- again, she didn't tell him about it.  She's so cute the way she tells me about it when we're in the hall, or when he is asleep, so he won't know.  She doesn't want him to worry about being "off" the full vent support, or think he has to breathe differently. 
 
He said he slept well last night (they gave him a different sleeping pill - Ambien, I think) but woke up with a migraine-type headache.  They gave him some liquid Tylenol 3, and that helped.  He hasn't been having the terrible coughing fits today, so his head and back don't hurt as much.
 
Thank you all for the prayers and get-well wishes!  I love having these good days!  I'm just a little leery to breathe too easily, after our recent bad experiences when we thought things were going well...
 
Love,
EJ