The news that Jen and I have been anxiously waiting for has come...we're out of here!  At this writing, we're about an hour or so from being discharged, Jen has everything disconnected and she has normal clothes on for the first time in a two and a half weeks (I dare anyone to contemplate the thought of wearing one of those hospital robes for 16 days).

Now it's off to Dulles, on to LAX and hopefully in the door later tonight.  We'll have news of our return when we get there.  Wish us luck with the airlines, as there's weather on the East Coast today...

Turning the Corner

In our spare time, Jennifer and I have pioneered a new, highly scientific, peer-reviewed metric for patient progress:  the Tubal Extraction Quotient, or TEQ.  To calculate TEQ, one takes the number of tubes inserted into the patient's body (presently 4) and divides them by the total number present immediately after surgery, ten in Jen's case.  The lower the number, the greater the degree of patient progress.  By this measure, Jennifer's TEQ is now down to 0.4, a marked improvement by any standard and the single patient in our comprehensive study has confirmed that patient spirits increase in direct response to decreased TEQ.  Our findings will be laid out in a co-authored research paper and published in the February issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association but if you can't wait, abstracts are currently available online for $49.95.

The big victory today was getting her nasogastric, or NG tube removed.  This bad boy goes in the nose, down the throat and into the stomach.  Yeelch!  Its purpose is to keep the digestive tract empty so everything can heal up, and with that out now Jen is feeling a whole lot better and we may actually be able to get out of here by sometime mid-week; we'll see how that develops as time goes on.

We were able to video chat with Em, Matt & Laura again this afternoon and it was great to stay caught up.  Of course, it's not quite the same as being home, but from today's vantage point we think we can make out the light at the end of the tunnel.  Here's wishing everyone a great week and hopefully we'll have news of plans to come home soon.

Happy New Year

New Year's Day passed uneventfully for us as we logged another day on the road to recovery.  We've settled into a routine in which we try to get in three daily walks around the hospital corridors for exercise.  Thankfully, it's a big hospital but I'm afraid we've come pretty close to seeing it all.  It's been pretty cold out here so going outside hasn't been very appealing, and Jennifer is still encumbered with a lot of IV bags and such, but nevertheless we yesterday were able to find a corner of an interior courtyard here where the sun was streaming in.  Even though the temp was only in the thirties we were actually able to get quite comfortable in the sun - the first time Jen has been outside in eight days.  I can't tell just how good it felt to have the sun on our faces.

We've also been able to make the acquaintance of other families who are here from around the country to see Dr. Sugarbaker.  One such family is a couple from Portland, Oregon named Randy and Kristin.  They have two young children ages 3 and 5 back home.  Kristin had the same surgery Jennifer had, plus some post operative chemo, and they have been here since around 13th or so.  Another family we met last night just had their surgery a couple of days ago.  They are from central Tennessee and have young children as well.  Really nice people all, and in getting to know them one is struck by the random nature of disease, it's willingness to strike both young and old, of lives interrupted and plans changed.  But something else is clearly present too:  families coming together, love offered, accepted and shared, and strength of faith and character.  It's nice to get to meet people like this and helps to provide a human touch in an environment of literal sterility.  

Jennifer's sister Juliette returned home on New Year's Eve and, after the requisite 4 hour fog delay in SFO, is now safely back home in Chico, CA.  We both want to thank her for coming out to help, and at no small personal sacrifice of time and resources.  Thanks Juliette!

Happy New Year to everyone back home!  We continue to appreciate your warm comments and look forward to seeing you, and hopefully soon.