Wednesday

Sorry for not getting an update on here yesterday...some times a break is needed.

Aly is improving.  By the time I left the hospital yesterday evening her lungs were pretty much clear.  They kept her on the ventilator all day yesterday (so she's been sleeping still) as they wanted to be cautious and give her time to rest.  Hopefully today, they will remove the tubes today.  They continue with the chemotherapy and they put her j-tube (which goes down into the intestine) back in yesterday so they could give her nutrition.
They have had to move Aly in bed every couple of hours and when they did, she would arouse and open her eyes.  She could understand us talking to her and she continued to try to communicate with hand signals.  I don't think I'm as good at guessing as Kevin was.  Yesterday, Aly got frustrated and started crying.  The nurse and I finally figured out that she had some stuff in her mouth that she wanted cleared.  Once that was done, she fell back asleep.
Kevin spent the night last night and I'm on my way down this afternoon after some time at work.

It is late in the evening now, I'm sitting in Aly's room as she sleeps.  We've had a couple of conversations through her writing on the clipboard.  She struggles to find the strength to write while under sedation.  She stirs everytime they reposition her.  Her biggest complaint is feeling junk in her throat.  Several times, she's taken the suction tube, herself, and stuck it in the "right" place in her mouth. 
They decided to wait until tomorrow to remove the ventilation tube.  They wanted to wait until her chemotherapy was completed just in case there were other complications.  They will watch her through the night and then make a decision in the morning.  
Because Aly is in ICU, we have had access, these days, to the Ronald McDonald House which is on the 3rd floor of the hospital.  They have sleeping rooms (which I'm going to use tonight) and a beautiful kitchen as well as a lounging area.  Each night different volunteers bring in dinners for the families that are using their facility.  We are also able to use the kitchen if we'd like and they have a pantry of foods available.  It has been a great asset.  I'm a little surprised that cancer patient families don't typically have access to the House, but I guess it is geared more towards critically ill patient's families.  It is a wonderful place to get away for a spell.  I want to find out how we can volunteer there, after Aly gets well.