Pauline here, again.  Day T+ 20 and counting...

This morning was a pretty wild ride.  I arrived at the hospital about 8:30 am.  It's now after 11:00 and I'm still breathing hard.

Boone has been cold, bone shivering cold.  This was going on yesterday, so this morning I brought him an electric blanket to put between him and the inflatable mattress.  Air mattresses are just like waterbeds, they will suck the heat right out of you, just slower.

When Nurse Goodbody came in, I told her I wanted to put down the electric blanket, then put a satin sheet over it, and get him back into his satin pjs.  He is so sore that scooting him around in the bed has rubbed him raw.  The satin pjs and sheet fix that problem.  We learned this when we were caring for my dad.  He was a big man and moving him was difficult, but with the satin we could practically spin him around.

Anyway, Boone was complaining of being very cold.  His blankets and sheets were wadded up so I proceeded to pull them up to straighten recover and tuck him in.  When I pulled them up I found his osteomy bag had leaked.   He was wearing his brand new super fluffy wonderfully warm housecoat, it was soaked in pure liquid feces.  No wonder he was cold, laying on an air mattress in wet clothes.  At least the smell has diminished.  I guess a liquid IV diet doesn't stink on exiting.

Nurse Goodbody and I rolled him around and washed every part there was to wash, but unfortunately, I didn't think about washing his hands until after he stuck his finger in his nose; it had feces on it too.  So we scrubbed the hands, and the nose.  I changed his bag, because I've done it more than the nurse, but honestly, it's been a while.  Just as soon as we got him clean, he spurted all over himself  again.  And again. And again.  Finally I got the ostomy bag put on before another eruption.  Not a second too soon....

So Nurse Goodbody and I got him stripped, recleaned, dressed in his satin jammies and I put down the electric blanket and satin sheet.  He slid right into the bed.  After the electric blanket started warming up, he would start to drift off to sleep, then we need blood, we need to... We need to...it never ends.

No rest for the weary.

The Dr. and his entourage came by.  Doc was ok with the electric blanket and satin sheets. (He had already heard about them)  Not too happy about the feces in the nose, but all in all, Boone is much better, he's just very tired.   His WBC is up to 0.3 shooting for 0.5.  No sign of any neutrophils yet.  But the doc seemed confidant they were coming soon.  Vitals are good.

Just as soon as Boone got to sleep, the PT came by.  We got him up and with a walker, got him to walk the length of the short hall; about 80 feet including the room, and back.  He did really well.

Boone is back in bed and now finally sleeping comfortably.   

No more shivering.