We've covered a lot of ground in the last week. Some smooth and some rocky. I made Rich take a shower on Sunday using a shower chair, wrapping his PICC line and covering his dressing with a shower curtain. He was Not Happy. Because he was so unhappy about it, he was less than kind to me. But he got clean and we both survived.

Tuesday we had a visit from two Lisa nurses. Our IV nurse is Lisa and the wound nurse is Lisa. Wound Lisa got us a new wound manager pouch that I like better. Who knew I could have such strong feelings about pouches but the door is awesome and the wafer sticks a little better. We also experienced the joy of no sting spray adhesive remover.

Of course as soon as the wound nurse left, we got a leak from the new pouch, but I saw what she did wrong and fixed it. Crisis averted.

Today has brought all new kinds of progress. Rich is in much better spirits. He's joking a little and fondling me as I work on his IVs and dressings. We got approval for foam dressing on his top sutures and those only need to be changed once every three days versus three times a day. He's weaning off of Vicodin and we're moving over to liquid ibuprofen, though it only comes in children doses so I had to get medical dosing shot glasses to get him enough. I did avoid the bubble gum flavor in favor of mixed berry.

So now we only have pain meds as needed, a liter of IV fluids around noon and his TPN plus IV fluids from 8pm to 8am. Oh, and emptying drains.

Rich's dad went back home this morning. Ian is at Jenna's until 5pm and I am going to try to go to bunco tonight. I just have to hook up his TPN before I go.