Tubeless

The big news today is that the doctors decided that Krista was recovered enough to remove the breathing tube! She had been breathing on her own, with the tube in, and getting plenty of oxygen in her body. The tube was no longer protecting her from choking since she regained the ability to interact with people; now the tube was just annoying her. So out it came -- and they also took out the feeding tube while they were at it.

With the removal of the tubes, Krista can now talk in whispers and chew on ice chips. Her throat is a little raw from the tube and its removal. It will take a couple of days to have that heal up. The ice helps while she has it. She also got her request from the other day: apple juice mixed with cranberry juice frozen to a slushie. That was good a few times, but it ended up being a little too acidic so it's back to ice chips for now.

Her digestive system was still on stand-by from this morning's test, but her ammonia levels are low enough that they no longer need to give her Lactulose. Lab results also show that her liver is doing much better.

The kidney doctor came by and said that her kidney values are still too high and, unfortunately, dialysis makes the values seem better than they actually are. She is excreting urine, indicating the kidneys are still working, but the kidneys won't get fully exercised until they get her off dialysis. He said that they are waiting until the team reduces the total IV fluid intake to below 3 liters a day before she'll be off dialysis.

Platelets were at 26,000 this morning, but on-and-off fevers have the doctors concerned that the platelet levels may be affected. White blood count continues to climb slowly; it's at 0.29 today. The oncologist says it's definitely a sign of grafting!

You turned my wailing into dancing;
you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
that my heart may sing to you and not be silent.
O LORD my God, I will give you thanks forever.
(Psalm 30:11-12)