St. Rose Update

I love the name of the hospital Dad is at. It's beautiful. St. Rose Dominican. It sounds like it should be a magnificent, cathedral-looking building tucked away on a tropical island. Well Vegas isn't quite tropical, to some, maybe, but at the very least, this picture sure makes it seem that way. At any rate, I find the name comforting. And it does look pretty. Dad had his biopsy today around noon. Apparently an extremely uncomfortable procedure and he was in a little bit of pain afterward. He says it felt the same as when you step on a nail or tack, sore and throbbing. They drew his own blood to begin with, and used it to seal up the "hole". He's lying on his stomach for the procedure, and at one point has to cough. Isn't that a given? The poor guy has double pneumonia and lying on his stomach. Well he's not supposed to. So he holds it in. And then feels like he's gonna choke. When does he get a break? They went in through the back, and took 3 samples from the lung. His blood pressure was high during the procedure and when he got back to the room it was 202/92. He's got a blood pressure cuff, and they are checking it regularly. It has gone down a bit since he got back to his room, so hopefully it was just due to anxiety and the procedure. For the next hour or so he had to lay propped on his side to prevent a lung collapse, which apparently is fairly common. Something like 50% of the time it happens. Then they told mom it would be 3-5 days to get the results of the biopsy. Patience is not a virtue. It's hell.

**Updated as of 6:30ish: I'm referring to my stack of post-it notes, so hopefully I get this right. Mom met with the Internist this evening, Dr. India as she refers to him. :) He is the "coach" of the team, and gave quite the update on everyone. Dr. Infectious is still in the picture because of the possibility of valley fever. The blood tests were inconclusive for valley fever, so the biopsy will reveal if it is related to valley fever. This means the spot could still be related to an infection, and not necessarily neoplastic (tumorous, whether benign or malignant.) So that's good news. Impressed yet? I know. My medical vocabulary is growing immensely. Unfortunately. So, Dr. India says the results of the biopsy could take up to 3 days, which is technically better than 3-5 days, although were not counting on it. The cardiologist is also on the "team" still, although mom doesn't think she'll ever see him, just his bill. Dr. India indicated that the preliminary report from the cardiologist revealed a massive murmur, but that is preliminary, and not conclusive yet. The final report has not been written, so he can't really comment too much on that. They did give him a pill for the blood pressure, which seems to slowly be going down. He will remain in the hospital for probably a couple more days, to keep him on the antibiotics, and basically because they don't know exactly what they are treating. He's feeling better from the biopsy, not the procedure itself, but rather the spot where they inserted the needle.

And ... he had chicken enchiladas for dinner, ate three bites, and all of his ice-cream, which he does every night. This is always Cam's first question: "What did Papa have for dinner?" Important information that is included in the report. They're hanging in there, and mom says thank you for all the words of encouragement and prayers. We need them!