Exit strategy, take two

I got to speak to the nurse practitioner this morning, and we're definitely not going home tomorrow.

In addition to his sat problem, his last bloodwork came back this morning showing a slightly elevated white blood cell count, and he's developed a very low-grade fever (37.6 degrees celsius, or about 100 degrees F), so they're worried about infection. They're starting him on a course of antibiotics, but they're not sure what's infected. One of his chest tube wounds was very red and angry looking, but the nurse practitioner didn't think that would cause the elevated WBC. In order to figure out what kind of antibiotic to use, they wanted to rule out a urinary tract infection, which meant another unpleasant test: they had to stick a catheter into his penis to get a clean urine sample to culture.

Anyway, they're going to start the antibiotics soon, and recheck his bloodwork tomorrow. In the meantime, he's going to continue to get IV diuretics all day today, and then hopefully transition back to all oral ones tomorrow. And he also has to get weaned off his oxygen...his sats are still looking good, but despite my friendly encouragement, nobody has made a move yet to wean him off it.

So, with all that still has to be done, the nurse practitioner told me that MAYBE we could go home Thursday, but more likely Friday.