Diana Ross Monday

They just took some blood to check her procalcitonin levels. Not something I'm familiar with, so you can bet your ass both me and Dee have googled it and tried to make sense of it. It's yet another way to check for infection. The more I read, the more I didn't want to read anymore. Now is not the time to go crazy on WebMD. It's a slippery slope. I would probably end up diagnosing my mom with ebola. So, how serious is it? Don't know. What exactly is it for? Don't know. Met another Mr. Infectious Disease guy, Dr. Semel, he reminds me of a high school science teacher. Super nice and answers my questions, although I don't really know what questions to ask yet. The cultures still haven't showed anything, which means they still don't know where or if there is an infection. All in all, SUPER frustrating. Is it possible there isn't an infection? According to the other friendly Infectious Disease guy, yes, it's possible. But until they can rule out all possibilities and she stops getting a fever they're going to keep looking. I think that's a good plan, don't you?

On another note, the next step from ICU is longterm acute care. I know that "longterm" sounds scary and dooming, but it's really only a couple of weeks. It's the pre-rehab step. It will get her out of the ICU where infections lurk around every corner and into a place that will watch her just as closely and help get her rehab ready. Of course we would love for her to be able to just go straight to rehab, but she has to get off the ventilator and gain some strength. We're doing a tour of Holy Family this afternoon at 3:30. It's the one that everyone has recommended across the board, so obviously that's the one we want her to go to. It's in Des Plaines. Story: When we moved here both my mom and I pronounced it as though it were a fancy french locale - "Deh Plain". It wasn't long before one of us said it to a Chicagoan who looked at us confused and said "you mean Des Plaines?". It's phonetic. Rolls right off the tongue. I will never get over that. She'll be thrilled to be a Des Plainian.

I'm sure you're wondering when she'll be going to acute care, but we don't know that yet. We want her out of here sooner rather than later to avoid her catching anything in the ICU, but we just need her to kick this temperature.

Otherwise, white blood count is down from yesterday, but still higher than Mr. Infectious Disease likes. Waiting for the GI's to tell us if she can have some snacks. Her lung "stuff" is still there, but is a better color than yesterday. This is the kind of stuff that you get excited about in the ICU. And Maryanne is back! Disney princess + Mary Poppins. She actually said that she has thought about working more days just so she can be our nurse. I love her and told her she's stuck with us now. Before we get out of here she's giving us her contact info so we keep her in the loop.

We're all listening to Diana Ross, my mom was tapping my hand to the beat and gave my nose a squeeze. A strong squeeze at that.

Is it weird that I find comfort in the ICU now? It's like my safe zone. Everything outside of here reminds me that's there's a life my mom doesn't get to see with me every day. Soon though. Just kicking ass and taking names.