SICU Day Three

            It’s 6:20 p.m. and I’m sitting in a sage green swivel chair, with my legs up on a padded sage chair. David is sitting up again, in the slightly darker green armchair, sipping his peach yogurt drink, and eating jello. Indirect sunlight comes in through the two large windows of the room, with its $30,000 Hill-Rom bed; two IV stands, which are delivering magnesium and Lactate Ringer fluid (whatever that is); and a trash can that regularly fills up with yellow gowns and grey gloves, discarded by the seemingly endless stream of specialties. He looks so much better than yesterday, able to sit up and watch Grey’s Anatomy and feeling good enough to complain about the fact that it took nearly 3 hours to watch a 40 minute episode, with that interrupting stream of doctors, nurses, and medical students.

            R’el arrived last night via Megabus and Red Line subway. Matt had left Yarito, (her Yaris), in the Wrenmimic parking lot and I drove him to BWI (Baltimore Washington International Airport). R’el stayed the night in David’s room. Matt had found it useful to be with David through the night.

            I arrive at about 8 a.m. this morning. The SICU (surgical intensive care unit) team had already visited. I saw the Infectious Disease fellow and fourth year med student, who is David’s home teacher, Seth. Home teaching is a program in our church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: we’re Mormon), where every member and family can be visited, ideally at least once a month, by a pair of members, who are available to help with any needs, physical or spiritual. The congregation David is a part of while at Wrenmimic, the Washington D.C. 2^nd ward, consists of single Latter-day Saints, ages 18-30 years old. They’ve been very supportive, bringing sacrament every Sunday and visiting during the week. On Monday, two men were able to come and give David a blessing right before his colon surgery.

            I went to Dunkin Donuts or “unkinD Donuts” (that’s a Wordplay quote), to get R’el a couple of breakfast sandwiches. When I returned, Dr. McDuffee had just removed her gown, but stayed to give me her report.

            The major message she brought yesterday and again today, is to take the treatment one day at a time. On today’s docket was a bone marrow biopsy, to determine the leukemia count, and a lumbar puncture, to check for leukemia in the CSF (cerebral spinal fluid). They did the biopsy with David lying on his side, and followed immediately with the lumbar puncture. Then David took a well-earned nap. Even when seated, he closes his eyes frequently: I don’t think his sleep is completely restful.

            Some good news is that he is officially not neutropenic. His white blood cell counts are near the low normal range. But with the excitement of the procedures, they’ve let him stay in SICU one more night. He had a lot of stress today. His monitor, which shows heart rate, breathing rate, blood pressure, oxygen saturation, etc., is pointed directly towards the nurses’ station, so they can keep a close eye on him.