Today's update (5/7)

[Guest guest]

Tonight, I'm being smart and doing one mass email to everyone I've been emailing about Dave (I don't know what I was thinking before).

When I got to the hospital this morning at 8 the kidney doc had just been there and told Dave his labs looked slightly better, the first time they've moved at all, and that she didn't want to do the biopsy today after all. The plan now is to do another blood sample in the wee hours of the morning Wednesday and then she'll decide if they need to do the needle biopsy. If they do, it will be done early tomorrow morning and he'll probably go home Thursday. If they don't need to do it then it means his levels have improved more and they'll probably let him go home tomorrow. He's feeling really good though, the intravenous fluids have rehydrated him and that is great. They think the kidney problem was probably caused by a medication he was prescribed for ulcerative colitis. It is a very rare side effect that no one expected to see but they pulled him off the med in case that was it and will not be using it (now they're trying to figure out what to do instead... it never ends but at least that is not a life threatening or even, in his case anyway, a life impairing condition). They also think that he didn't respond to an iron infusion several weeks ago because the kidneys were already starting to fail so hopefully with the kidneys getting better his anemia will also improve/go away (and he'll get back to normal). So, if he needs the kidney biopsy tomorrow he'll probably be home Thursday and will be followed closely from home. If he doesn't need the biopsy, he'll probably be home Wednesday and also followed closely from home. He is, as I said yesterday, acting normally and functioning normally overall so hopefully he won't have many or any restrictions but we'll see when we get there.

I took the kids to see him after school today and they were very happy to be with him again. The feeling was obviously mutual. When we got home and were having dinner together, Miriam moved into the chair Dave usually uses because "I feel like I'm closer to him when I'm sitting in his chair." We're praying for tomorrow but will accept whatever needs to be for him to come home healthy.

Thank you all for your prayers, thoughts, emails and calls. Thank you for your offers of help too. All of it is very much appreciated by all of us and we feel very blessed to have such wonderful friends and family!