much like the NZ cricket team from about 2003 onwards....

her progress has been a bit disappointing.


But there's a slim chance that things have taken a step forwards.

Today she had surgery #3 since her arrival a mere 18 days ago, when they did indeed take her to theatre to change the vacuum dressing. I got a call from the Registrar afterwards, telling me that they'd debrided some necrotic tissue from around the wound (ie - they cut out the dead stuff) and they were hopeful that this was the cause of her slow progress over the last few days.

For those of you who care, today her bloods were; Hb 112; WBC 18.3, Neutr 15.5, CRP 320

There doesn't seem to be a running list, so I don't know her recent results, but I think you'll agree that she's not left many CRP's for the other patients to share.

(for all you Normal People out there, that stands for c-reactive protein, and is a blood marker that tells you that there is some sort of inflammation in the body but not where it's coming from., So it'll be raised after any operation, or with an infection, or if you burned your hand. It should be less than 7. In GP land we get excited if it's much more than 20. Someone with an appendicitis might be 100-200. So you get the picture. Now that the dead tissue is hopefully out of her, it will be interesting to watch the trend over the next few days).

In fact, tonight she's seems more lucid and happy than she's been pretty much since she had to come back from ward leave on Sat. She remarked that after her previous general anaesthetics it took a couple of days for her head to come right. However she's still knocking back the PCA* and was telling the nurses that her pain wasn't too bad right now because it's only 4/10 intensity. The fan remains on, and her new favourite health consumables are the little sponges on a stick that look like lollipops and which she can soak and use to relieve the dryness in her mouth.

She has forbidden me to take a picture of the wound and vacuum dressing, which means that it's pending. But just in case, I can at least tell you that since the adhesive is clear, the fast that you can see some of the subcutaneous tissue (ie - the layer of tissue under the skin) makes it look like vacuum-packed meat at the supermarket. You don't see any flesh, but there's the soft orange colour of the fat layer that's under our skin.

Mother-in-law has scored another week of sick leave.

She's looking at me like she knows I'm typing something dodgy. There goes the soft chime of the PCA machine as Tom gets another gentle caress, and I can hear the whir of the pump - sounding like a distant Tardis - as she gets another hit of that sweet, sweet fentanyl/ketamine mix.

 #1 Husband

* the button's name is indeed Tom. "Ted" is the name she "accidentally" uses from time to time when she's high in bed. Don't read that last bit if you're related to her.