New J/G-tube, High fevers return, "Praise Him"

Bit of a slump, compared to the previous few days. Denise got a new jejunum/gastrostomy tube this afternoon, since the previous one clogged. Her fevers are spiking higher (102.8 is the highest I saw). There was talk earlier in the day of trying to get her off the vent 4 hours at a time, but the high fevers necessitated that she stay hooked up more than that (high fevers=faster breathing). Her heart rate also was higher today than it had been in previous days while on the vent (up to 132 tonight). She was trying to write & tell us things, but hands & lips were very uncoordinated (after-effects of the sedative used prior to the J/G-tube change). Today some of the moms from my school showed up to bring mid-week church to Denise's bedside. These are the same ones that visited a few days ago (thanks for visiting my wife again!). She *was* coordinated enough to write "Praise Him" on a white board during that time. That's my girl. Again, after the run we've had over the last few days, today seemed slow to me. But one of the mom's caught me as I was leaving work & said that they were shocked at how much better Denise looked. Seeing Denise every day, several hours a day, sometimes it's hard to notice the progress. So it was nice to hear a "weekly" perspective. Now that I just typed that, I remembered the doctor saying that we can't get hung up on the hourly or daily fluctuations in Denise's condition; we should keep our eyes on the weekly trends.
Back at home, Jacob seemed fine this morning, then tonight he started in with the coughing again. No hurling since last night, though. It was kind of funny... yesterday he had noodles at lunch, rice at dinner. Last night when he threw up, we saw noodles but no rice. I guess he spews selectively.
Thanks for all the offers to help pick up that car I mentioned the other day. Turns out that several of you have reason to go back & forth between SF & LA. If the car works out to be a good thing, it looks like we've got several options for getting it moved. I'm always amazed at how things work out... it should be interesting to see how this works out, too.
I have to put in a shameless plug for Air1, a Christian rock station that's among my radio presets (90.1 or 90.3 in my area, or listen online & look for a frequency local to you at air1.com). Every day they play music that helps me cope. Anyway, they're listener-supported and a worthy ministry to which you might consider contributing.

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