That's a pretty high fever

That's an understatement, but that's what the nurse had to add sometime last night or early this morning, I don't really remember. It was a little over 103, which for a 53 year old is a pretty good fever.

She gave him some Tylenol the "fun" way, and it took a bit, but the fever broke. Since then he's run a very low grade temp, but they have him on some pretty substantial antibiotics. We're back in Methodist, in yet another area, but this time, we have a fancy private room. I spent the night last night because they were unable to deal with the idea of either a passive or active restraint system. The night nurse was a little frazzled, and I have to guess they were short staffed last night. I am pretty sure I got pretty close to 3 hours sleep last night.

It was very much a Groundhog Day type experience. They kept asking the same questions over and over. What is his underlying medical condition? What medications is he taking at home? What is this hard spot in his abdomen? Maybe I'm confused, are we not at the same hospital we just got discharged from 7 days ago? I told the nurse that the reason I insisted we come back to Methodist is that he had just been here and I wouldn't have to repeat his history. I don't have a list of his medications, which were all prescribed by Dr. Volpi or Dr. Li and should be in the discharge summary. Later the nurse practitioner came in to report she had located the list of medications the doctors at TIRR had him on. I threw up my hands and if I wasn't sure if I was suffering irritation because of lack of sleep or if it was because they were being ridiculous, I would have blown right there.

I talked to a friend who's husband works here and she basically said they were being lazy. I am of a mind to ask for a hard copy of the discharge summary so I can just hand it to the dude tonight.

But back to Pete. He is doing better. They have been doing tests on him for about 4 hours now, and I've gotten some work done. The daytime nurse has ordered him a circus tent so he can be safe in bed. The docs are confused, because if he has an infection in his gallbladder, he should be in pain,and he is not in pain, some discomfort, but no pain. The suggestion I got last night was maybe a procedure to drain any fluid on the gall bladder and defer any major surgery until after the bone flap is replaced, so they are not doing surgery in the general area the bone flap is in.

I heard from Pete's boss today and gave him an update. He wants to come visit and I assured him first that he looks a heap better than he did the last time he saw him (while he was having a stroke) and that visitors are encouraged by TIRR and will help Pete keep his mind stimulated. And Gene, you can't have his desk. Pete wanted you to know that.