Hello, again!

#TeamRavi is back! We just spent 8 days inpatient and are very happy to be home. Two Fridays ago we checked into Journey Clinic for a routine check up. Vitals were good but Ravi’s white blood cell count was very high, indicating an infection. Also, the wound on his shoulder was not healing. On the counsel of our wise nurse, we checked into the hospital. Unlike other hospitalizations , this one was not fraught with panic or sheer terror . This was just a maintenance visit to get an infection under control. No chemo was given so Ravi felt pretty good. He was on 8 days of IV antibiotics and had wound care following him, but he did not feel sick at all. While we were in the hospital, Loaner Sam, his loaner AAC came from the company. Ravi had spent all of Christmas season mute, as Sam had sadly developed a problem with his charger. As soon as we got Loaner Sam I rushed the device to the hospital. Ravi was over the moon happy. He began talking and babbling immediately. After that, the visit was easy. He had Sam, he had his iPad, he had lots of nice nurses checking on him, and he felt good enough to do lots laps around floor 5. Friends and therapy dogs came to visit. For someone who was stuck in the hospital, he was being a very good sport about it. Robert and I flipflopped as to who would stay with him overnight and who would go home to take care of the animals. During the day all three of us were together at the hospital. Yesterday, I learned how to administer wound care and we were set free in the world, told we did not have to come back for at least two days. We were delighted. Ravi had other things in mind.

We arrived home on the coldest day of the year. I do not think it got above zero, yesterday. As I am writing this, it is minus 8F outside, but feels like minus 30. The high today is supposed to be an even zero. Even though I consider myself a hardy midwesterner, I think I will not run outside until the mercury rises above 10 F and the sun comes out. Once home, Ravi happy curled up on his bed and took a long nap with Robert. I did some laundry and caught up on some correspondence. We ordered in dinner but Ravi was still sleeping. Around 8pm I went in to check on him and hook up his G tube for another feed. Imagine my surprise when I saw that the G tube was no longer attached to his body! Ravi was not at all disturbed, but I was! I did a quick all to the resident oncologist on call. She laughed and asked if we hadn’t just left the hospital that afternoon? I sheepishly admitted that we had but were now in need of more assistance. She said that we would need to go the ER and she would call ahead.

Twenty-five minutes later found us at the ER. To our surprise and delight, there was parking right outside the door and virtually no wait. We were seen by a nurse immediately and by an ER doctor only a few minutes after that. The G tube hole had not had time to close, so it was just a matter of finding another G tube that would fit. This took a little while. Many G tube users are little kids and it took some looking around to find a larger one. A larger G tube was eventually tracked down in the OR, was inserted with no fuss whatsoever, and we were sent on our way. We made it home before midnight, tired and relieved. It took another 2 hours to get enough feeds and all of his meds into Ravi. Before the last feed ended, he had fallen into a deep sleep. It was a busy day!

I am not certain what the next week will bring. Hopefully, we can just stay home today, stay warm and cuddle our pets. Monday, we check into the Journey Clinic. I do not know if he will receive chemo or not. Tuesday, he has his beloved PT and then an appointment with neurology at a different hospital. Thursday, we are back Journey Clinic for labs and a check in.

So…. we are okay. Thank you for everyone who checked in on us, brought us food or let our dogs out for a respite in the back yard.  We were not planning on spending the last 8 days inpatient, but there you go. Ravi was well taken care of and this stay did not produce any trauma. He was well taken care of, as always, and did not feel acutely ill. So, stay warm. Cuddle your pets. Be good humans, and we will be in touch. Peace.