Countdown to discharge, some good news

Four days until discharge. Denise overall has been doing well physically. The only downers are that she's been having nightmares fairly consistently the past few nights, feels a pain in her chest (possibly a strain from her little fall the other day), and had a rash on her chest. The rash is not the same as what she had as a symptom of valley fever back in July. I got a reassuring email from a grandparent of a couple of my computer students that had valley fever, saying that she too got a rash, but it faded and life continues to go on.

We got some positive news on Friday from the ID doctor. He has some new info on titers (tests to measure the concentration of the cocci in her system) that seem good. Denise's titer on the CSF (cerebral spinal fluid) is 1:2 (the same and not higher then the one in November). So he is not as concerned about her headaches... whew! The serum, blood titer is only slightly higher than in January and he talked with the expert pathologist up at U.C. Davis who said it can just be a variable. So they're counting is as no change. The liver biopsy is not growing any cocci. I'm glad so far, though I'm cautious because if I recall correctly, it can take up to two weeks for it to be seen. He plans to repeat the serum titer in early April when we see him. Now that said, we still don't know what caused Denise's ab pain & manic episodes a couple weeks ago

Once again from the raining & pouring department: my dad's uncle went into the hospital over the weekend and is in ICU. I don't know all the details, but he also had cancer issues within the last few months. Everyone on my dad's side of the family tends to downplay illnesses, so my concern is that things were (and are) worse off than what my great uncle might have let the family know. He & my great aunt are a couple more poeple that could use some extra pull right about now.

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