Saturday, May 2

1.15am Family report: Just checked in with Nurse Jaq as i didn’t want to call dad in case he was sleeping. She will be with him overnight and will be keeping an eye on his transfusion and vitals. The transfusion began around 1am and should take about 3.5 hours. At the start of his procedure, his Blood Pressure was 115/54, Pulse 63, Oxygen 96 - she said all looking ok.. 15 minutes into the transfusion his vitals read: Blood Pressure 122/64 (the bump is expected with added blood ins system); Heart Rate 83, Oxygen 99 and temp 97.8 - all stable she said. She did those last vitals with me on the phone and dad was up so she handed him the phone - he was exhausted and sounded sleepy but said he felt ok - He’s off to bed now, but probably wont be a great night sleep as they will have to check in him quite a bit - he is not in a unit where he is hooked up to machines so they come in for vitals… His Blood Type is A+ - just an FYI.

Also, The Nurse Practitioner on call was in touch with Greenwich Hospital to get dads past CAT scans on his first retroperitoneal, from April 7. They are looking for sizing information to determine if this is where he might still be losing blood causing the hemoglobin levels to drop. She was about to get in touch with someone in the records dept and apparently, they are sending over the appropriate information..

9.30am report: Late last night they did another hemoglobin blood test on dad and results came back with low levels reading 7. This is a drop from the 8pm test readings of 8.1 and also from yesterday mornings levels at 7.3 All other vitals were solid BP at 122/64, oxygen at 99, HR at 83 and temp at 97.8, yet at the low level of 7 a blood transfusion is necessary to bump number back up over 8. So a 1am they started the transfusion - The whole procedure took about 3.5 hours. Earlier this am i spoke with Barbara - dads nurse for today. She said that his Hemoglobin is back at 8.1 after his 1 unit of blood overnight. As of now they have no reason for the sudden drop to 7 last evening, but happy he is back up above 8. They also received films from Greenwich Hospital of the original retroperitoneal bleed that was first discovered on April 7th, and it appears that it has shrunk and was now notably smaller. He will stay in the hospital and they will continue to monitor his levels - All other markers at this point are steady and solid. Im awaiting a call from Dr Shelker with an additional report. Today, we can bring him food - he is on a normal diet so a fresh turkey sandwich for lunch is his first request. Again, he is a trooper in good spirits and looking forward to coming home real soon!

1.15pm report: So mom and i dropped of lunch - turkey sandwich, apple slices and Tates cookies - his favorite. As of now nothing new to report besides that he is feeling great and so happy to be at the back end of this all.. After he gave me a virtual tour of his room i figured out where it was. Today mom and i made our way up to the 5th floor of the White Plains Hospital Parking Garage and sure enough clear as anything - there he was! a perfect view into his room… So glad to be able to continue our daily visits… see us - small little people on the top floor…

3.15pm report: Just heard from Dr. Shelker, she is happy to report that after an 8.1 Hemoglobin reading this am, dads Hemoglobin is now reading at 9.5. This is heading in the right direction for sure. Over 9 is typically where they want him.. The reports were all reviewed by a surgeon, gastroenterologist and a hematologist. They are quite certain that there is no internal bleeding as, once again, the dimensions of the hematoma are smaller than they measured 3 weeks back. His urine and stool output is all clear. They do feel that most of this might be from insult to his bone marrow from medications to fight COVID-19 as the virus suppressed blood production. They are recommending additional bloodwork this afternoon, evening and again tomorrow am. If it continues this positive track and seems stable, he will be eligible for discharge to home tomorrow.. He will have to follow up on a weekly basis with the gastroenterologist and the hematologist. So once again, he is eating well, having no abdominal pain, full of energy and showing a positive attitude! we couldn’t be prouder. So we watch and wait and fingers crossed to take him home tomorrow!