August 9, Thursday

So far things are going pretty well. A number of the usual side effects of the surgery don't seem to be impacting him. So he doesn't have any nausea, he has some "movement" in his digestive system, and his blood sugars seem to be under control with modest amounts of insulin. But he has had some severe episodes of pain. The nurses say a pancreatectomy is one of the most painful  surgeries. This AM his pain seems to be under control, still with him but not debilitating. He has been up and out of bed and sitting in a chair  and is walking around the hospital floor.  Today, perhaps a shower.  And Physical therapy come every day.  Yesterday, he walked and did 2 steps. The nursing staff both in the ICU and in the transplant ward have been extraordinary. 
For the first time in 6 days now, Jim and Suzanne have both gotten 6 continuous hours of sleep and Joe has been hanging in there, dealing with pain and discomfort.  He continue to have a lot of lines in his body and on the mother load.  Maybe one will go off tomorrow.  A continuous insulin drip as Joe's blood sugars have been doing pretty welll.  Monitoring every 4 hours tomorrow rather than every hour.  this means Joe may also get a couple hours of sleep continuous.   I can tell Joe may be starting to feel better as he seems to be engaging a few of the nurses.  Talking about skiing and teasing them a bit.