Tuesday, April 7

John is still doing about the same, nothing much new. Although we are disappointed to be at 1B, we are glad that things are calm for the moment and he is doing okay. They are still trying to get his electrolytes under control, now he seems to need much larger amounts of magnesium than he can take by mouth so we are not sure how that will work out when they want to send him home. Because he has so many fewer tubes and wires, he was actually able to take a shower today which was great! Still had lots of plastic bags covering tubes and IV lines, but a real shower nonetheless.

He did have some rhythm problems last night, but the doctors are not too concerned (easy for them to say!!); since his potassium and magnesium levels are being monitored so closely they feel the slight rhythm issues are not alarming and will not get worse. They had originally said he might go home on Wednesday, but they are still trying to regulate enough things that they are not going to send him home until Thursday at the earliest. Monticello is just too far away from a hospital that can deal with him, so we will either find someplace down here near Emory or impose on Zach and Jen (John's son and daughter-in-law) who live in Oxford near Covington so we can be close to Newton General Hospital. We are still waiting to see one of the doctors today to see what he thinks.

He has been in the hospital now for almost 5 weeks, and we still appreciate all of the support and good wishes from you all. Hopefully, if we can't get a heart, we will at least be home for his birthday and for Easter.