Wednesday...Day 2 in the Hospital

On Wednesday, Jon saw the lung specialist, Dr. G, who would wanted to remove the fluid around his lungs.

Dr. G came to see Jon around 10:30 and explained what needed to be done to remove the fluid.  This procedure, called Paracentesis, involved numbing the area and using a needle to draw out fluid.  It was scheduled to be done at 11:00.

Even though Jon threw up and felt light-headed during the procedure, he handled it well. The doctor was only able to drain 700 ml of fluid without Jon feeling sick.  Dr. G was not sure what caused him to feel like this: it could have been the pain meds that he took on an empty stomach or the procedure itself.  Dr. G felt that he was able to get enough fluid for the tests he wanted and didn't need to put Jon through it again, so he packed up the specimens and sent them to various places for testing.  Dr. G hoped we would have some results within the next few days.

After the procedure which drained the fluid that had been making him so uncomfortable, Jon felt a little better.  He began joking about the fluid, saying it looked like a home brewed beer.  He said, "This gives home brew a whole new meaning!"

Later, Dr. Bekele came in to check on Jon.  He let us know that they wouldn't really know anything about the fluid until Friday and ordered an MRI to make sure that there was nothing out of the ordinary going on in his brain.  Dr. Bekele encouraged Jon to get up and walk around to help his lungs get back to their original shape.  He also told us Jon would be staying another night.

Once the nurses brought Jon some pain meds, he followed Dr. Bekele's orders and took a few laps around the 7th North floor.  When we got back from our walk, it was time for the MRI which took about an hour.  Jon was hungry by the time the MRI was finished which made us very excited because he hadn't wanted food most of the time he was in the hospital.  He ate his "wonderful" hospital chicken dish and settled in for the night, watching The Matrix.