Here it is Friday, five days since John had his procedure, and he’s still in the hospital. His lung hasn’t healed sufficiently and is still “leaking air.” A LPN took time to show us the indicator on “the pump” which shows if there’s still a “leak.” We could clearly see the bubbles that indicate that air is escaping. At least now John won’t get his hopes up because he can see for himself that it’s still “bubbling.”

I visited him for awhile this afternoon. After I left, Dr. Genco, his surgeon, stopped in and said that except for the leak, he looks fine. He said he can’t explain why the surgical site on the lung closes up faster on some folks than on other. He shut off the “suction” on the pump which has been pulling fluid from his lung. It’ll continue to collect the fluid, but it’s just being gravity fed into the discharge container. Dr. Genco seemed to think the “pull” could be delaying the healing process.

John wasn’t as up-beat as yesterday. He is ansy and uncomfortable. He just wants to go home and feel better. I know he has to be as frightened as I am of the possible diagnosis.

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On a more light-hearted topic:
Last night, I spoke on the phone with two of our Florida neighbors (Linda and Geri), very nice ladies.

Geri mentioned that another nearby neighbor, had a pipe burst in their condo while they were “up north.” There was a lot of damage since no one had checked the condo for some time so the problem went unnoticed. She volunteered to look in on our place today. I called her this evening and everything is just fine. It’s reassuring.