Monday

Marty spent most of the day awake and aware of the fact that he is in the hospital in Hamilton.  The nurses, who are his primary care givers do an excellent job of providing for his needs.

Yesterday Marty received a new bed ... it's a bed that has a lot of "bells and whistles."  It is able to create percussion on his back to help loosen up some of the congestion in his lungs. It has pockets in various areas of the mattress which inflate and deflate which allow for the pressure points on his body to continually change throughout the day. This really minimizes the chance of bed sores and helps keep his skin in good condition despite his limited mobility.

As we stated yesterday the feeding tube was taken out of his mouth and inserted through Marty's nose and into his stomach.  This does seem to really irritate him and consequently Marty did remove it early this morning and then again early this evening.  

Yesterday they did start giving Marty medications to increase his white blood cell count.  This seemed effective yesterday and the idea is to continue with that for the next little while.  This is being monitored very closely as samples of blood are being drawn a number of times throughout the day.

The physiotherapists were around today to begin a program with Marty.  They did various exercises on his hands, arms, legs and feet.  They will come and work with him everyday and also left a few activities for us to do with Marty; anything that we can do with him while visiting is also helpful.  

This afternoon they also inserted a PICC line in his upper arm.  This is a form of intravenous access which can be used for a prolonged period of time. This will be used for his intravenous chemo treatments in the future as well.  

Philippians 4: 6, 7

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."

Mom