Fluid in lungs

This is day three at the hospital - not sure when he'll be released, but we were told today that he might be discharged and placed in a residential therapy facility. That would be very strange for the three of us. I suppose it would feel no different than him being at the hospital though. I hope he can just come home and have daily, in-home assistance from a nurse for a while.

The doctors thought that Tom might be showing signs of meningitis, however they ruled that out, thank goodness. What he does have is "MRSA", or methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus. Here is some information: www.mayoclinic.com/health/mrsa/DS00735

A chest x-ray showed fluid in both lungs. They are going to do an ultrasound to get more information. The doctor said that Tom needs to begin sitting up more so that the liquid doesn't accummulate even more. If he can't sit up for significant periods of time they will have to perform an invasive procedure in order to remove the fluid. This is called a thoracentesis, and involves extracting fluid from the lungs using a hollow needle inserted through his back.

The huge scab is still very ugly, but it's healing nicely. :-)