Almost a year older.

Penny has a birthday coming up next week.

She had a great visit with her sisters and Tanya last night, up and chatting for an hour.
When I arrived at the hospital this morning she smiled and said she had a good night. Slept well.
Must have, because she threw her glasses on and grabbed the laptop and did a little reading for about ten minutes. Had a bit to eat for lunch today too. The most I have seen her eat in two weeks.
Her jaundiced pallor has improved, and we had a pretty good visit this morning.
She looked better than she has for several days. She was up and happy to see Mom and Dad and Trish arrive for the afternoon. She had half a dozen more visitors this evening.
I don’t mind writing this so much today. This is all good stuff.

The nausea and pain control are still a work in progress, and cause her some distress, but it is much better. The frequency of the attacks has diminished and she doesn’t have to wait long for relief. They increased the pain meds a little last night, and seem to be doing a really good job keeping the pain under control.
The muscle spasms she had been having a thousand times a night have also almost stopped. Some of them were quite severe and it is a big relief to see them evolve into just a little twitch now and then. The spasms were a result of becoming a little toxic from all the drugs, and not getting enough fluids.

It is eight in the morning now, Saturday, and she has been sleeping peacefully since eleven last night. Very nice to see after all the tough nights that she has been having lately. The day shift nurse just came in to check BP and give meds and Penny said her pain was zero. That was so good to hear. I have not heard a zero for months. The staff here is doing an awesome job of keeping her comfortable.

The doctor was just in and confirmed the ERCP will be done on Monday. Even shifted the schedule a little bit so Penny can get this done ASAP.

At this rate, Penny might soon be typing her own blog again. I’m hoping.

11:30 AM Saturday, September 23, 2006

Tanya, Kylie and Neressa were just here for a visit. Penny had a good morning and is just settling in for her noonish siesta. She read this before I posted it and drifted off to sleep.

Michael