Transfusions

Dad is in a very disagreeable mood about everything and snapping at Mom.  I know he is in a lot of pain, but it is crushing Mom's spirits to have him snapping at her the way he's doing.  I'm not passing judgement — heck, I would probably be a much worse patient than he is if I were in his position — I am just reporting.  He is disagreeable mostly because this process is dragging-out over a longer period of time than he would like.  The sooner they can do the surgery, the sooner he can begin healing and rehabilitating.

They're planning to give him blood transfusions tonight to try to speed-up his getting into surgery.  Besides the fact that his blood is thin from the Plavix^®, his red blood cell count is low because of the stroke a few years ago (He goes for periodic Procrit^® shots, much like many post-cancer patients require).  The hospital hopes that the blood transfusions will thicken his blood as well as boosting his red blood cell count.  Three transfusions are planned, at the rate of three hours for each pint to trickle into his IV tube.

Mom and I didn't feel like cooking, so she took me to Silver Bay seafood restaurant for a shrimp dinner.  We picked up a few groceries at Publix on the way home.  A phone call from my cousin, June, when we got home revealed that she has rheumatic fever.  Sheesh.

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