Teeny Update Blurb

More later, but I just spoke with Dad briefly. We had to get off the phone when the doctor came in to see him. The latest is that Dad's platelet counts appear to have stabilized thanks to the more or less daily transfusions he's been getting since he was admitted to the hospital Friday. This means that they'll be able to unplug his nose, which has been artificially corked to hold back the bleeding that's been plaguing him for the past week or so. Apparently the platelet deficiency not only prevents the blood from clotting, but predisposes Dad to bleeding in the first place.

I forgot to mention last night that Dad is also on Oxycontin (20 mg twice daily as of yesterday) for the pain. This has meant that he's drowsy, and sleeping most of the day, though the effect of the steroids he's now getting seem to have altered that pattern somewhat.

Mom was home this afternoon to buy more food and other supplies, and to take care of some housekeeping business. In order to spare Dad the hospital food, she's been buying organic foods (pre-prepared meals, whole grains, smoothie supplies, etc) at Whole Foods, storing them in the hospital room fridge, and doing what she can to prepare them there. Dad hasn't had much of an appetite, but she's been doing her best to encourage him to eat.

Talked to Julie last night. She's flying in from Texas for the weekend to see Dad and help out however she can. Julie has taken the initiative to keep many of us out-of-towners updated by phone over the past week.

Daisy will now be contributing here--in addition to her twelve other blogs--so Dad will be benefiting from some real blogspertise. I, meanwhile, was excited just to have added those embedded links up there. What's a link, you ask? (OK, I'll try to refer you to sites other than Wikipedia in the future. Baby steps.) We should be hearing from more sibs/kids in the future as well.

I'll give more news this evening, hopefully some word on the biopsy and scans.