It never rains but it pours -- Max has an ulcer on his eye. We're treating with ointment, and he sees an ophth-- an eye doctor this afternoon.

The tumor is out!

Someone wiser than I once said something along the lines of, "When bad things happen people say, "God, what did I do to deserve this?" but they don't when good things happen."

So I will ask now, "What did we do to deserve this?" The answer is the same -- nothing. It's an act of grace. Maybe its the random workings of the universe. It's a mystery but we know for sure it is a reprieve. She has a long road ahead of her and she's by no means out of the woods but a month ago Aunt B wasn't going to live to 63 and now she really just might. And much longer.

Looking for a little job ma~~~ for my DH. A situation has been brewing --and a resolution would be nice. Most of the resolutions would be ok , one would be really good, and one would be negative ( but hopefully only in the short run )

ND Update: He's still in the hospital with no clear sign of a release date, but he's feeling a bit better. We're hopeful that he may eventually be able to have such daring foods as clear liquids and jello. For now it's the big yellow bag o'nutrition through a central line. My coworkers have been sending me home with dinner every night, which is amazing, and my mom is coming out next Thursday to stay a couple of weeks and help out, so those are two very bright spots right now. Darker spots are his continued pain and swollen innards and an elevated white blood cell count that may or may not indicate an infection. We are still at the wait-and-see stage.

I'm tired from running between work and hospital, but otherwise doing okay. We both appreciate your kind words, and cards would be awesome. If you want to send ND one, you can mail directly to the hospital or mail to our house (email me for snail mail) and I will bring them in to him. He still doesn't have much energy for phone calls, but emails are appreciated (even though you may not get a response). Thanks for your support, everyone.

ETA: I've been sending out email updates to family and friends, but I started omitting Buffistas since I tend to update (at least in general terms) here. If you would like to be on that list, just drop me an email at my profile addy and I will add you.

One of my projects at donorschoose.org is up for funding through a project called Limeades for Learning. Sonic is having people vote for their favorite projects (no purchase necessary) and, each friday from 8/30-9/30, they are funding the top vote getters.

Buffistas have always been super generous and I hope this year you will be generous with a vote. I'd like to be able to purchase Botany of Desire for my 12th grade comp class and this grant would it possible. The link is: [link] The vote doesn't count until you verify your account and you can vote daily! Please to help by clicking and if you could spread the word, I'd appreciate it so much. Thanks!

So my hotmail address was used send spam . My apologizes , I really do not want you to go some medical site

Yesterday was not a good day, but today is looking better. The doctors are hopeful that Drew does not have a secondary infection (though we won't know for sure for a few days), and he is more lucid and himself right now, which is a huge relief to me. The tricky thing about moderately severe acute pancreatitis is that the prognosis can and does shift from day to day. Right now they are estimating another 2-3 weeks in the hospital, but they do think he will recover eventually. He does have some necrosis in the pancreatic tissue, which may require surgery. Please keep fingers and toes crossed that his body is able to deal with that on its own; surgery would set him back a lot more and can be very dangerous. The doctors are back to being cautiously optimistic that surgery will not be necessary.

As I mentioned before, my mother is flying out from CT to stay with me from Sept 9-27, so I will also have support at home starting later this week. There is really nothing else that anyone can do--the Sunshine Committee at work has been sending me home with food and will do so until my mom arrives, and that has been such a help. Otherwise, I just ask that everyone be patient with me if I don't respond to messages (I do read and appreciate every one, but I often don't have the energy to respond) and keep sending positive energy towards Huntington Memorial in Pasadena. Get well cards would be great for Drew's spirits. You can send them to our house and I will bring them to him. He still can't focus well on texts or emails, so emailing is great, but don't expect a response from him. If you do get a response, it may not make a lot of sense. He's better on the phone, but we're trying to keep phone conversations limited to close friends and family, and not longer than 5 minutes.

If you would like to be on the email update list, send me a note at my profile addy and I will add you. Thank you for your continued support.

Hello all,

Drew and I are having a bit of a rough day today. His white blood cell count has gone up and he is continuing to deal with intermittent fevers, so the doctors now believe that he has an infection in his pancreas. The infectious disease specialist here is excellent and already has Drew on two powerful antibiotics and an anti-fungal, so we are hopeful that the drugs will resolve the problem. They are still trying to avoid surgery, which is risky, but it may become necessary if the infection and necrotic tissue does not resolve. I wish I could tell you when we will have more answers, but no one knows. It's all time and patience and testing, which takes more time and patience. There are continued good signs, but this infection is serious and scary for both of us.

I am taking a day or two off of work in order to be here with Drew as we wait to see if this situation is going to improve or get worse. There is the possibility he might get moved into the direct observation ward if his condition deteriorates, but for now he is doing well enough to stay in a normal room. We are heading into Day 10 of being here with no clear end in sight, and both of our spirits are flagging a bit. The cards and emails and flowers and words of love you have all sent us have meant so much. Thank you.

Massive, massive amounts of get-better~ma heading Drew's way. We're all pulling for you and keeping you in our thoughts.

In other news: I got hitched! It was a gorgeous day, and everyone (including us) had a great time. The whole weekend was a blur of total happiness. I got to see old friends and meet new ones; I got to spend time with my family and was welcomed warmly into Mark's; and I'm now married to a truly wonderful man. It's funny, after all the buildup and anticipation leading up to the wedding, saying "I do" and taking my wedding vows was as easy and natural as breathing.

There were approximately a gazillion photos taken, but none by me, so I don't have a link to any of them yet (apart from the ones showing up on Facebook), but I will post again when they're available for viewing. Thanks for all of your good wishes, everyone!

Well the good news is that Drew got a good night's sleep and is feeling a bit better today. The bad news is that we got word from the doctor that the next step in Drew's recovery is going to be switching from central line feeding (which goes in much like an IV) to tube feeding through the nose. This procedure bypasses the pancreas but allows the intestines to start working more normally, which research shows helps long term recovery odds. Unfortunately, it's not the most comfortable or pleasant experience. They do not think Drew will get out of here for at least 2-3 weeks but have said it could be months, and he may end up having to go home with the tube still in. We are hoping (a lot) that this is not the case since I would need to be trained to perform tube feedings or hire a caregiving agency to do so when I am at work for several months.

Although the prognosis long term continues to be fairly positive, we are both pretty down about this news and the potential timeline. Please send good vibes for the best case scenario, which is a couple of weeks in here with tube feeding and then going home for a relatively quick home recovery.