10/23 Fri update

[Joe Haldeman]

Joe was tired and wobbly at 10 this morning as he started PT.  He stood twice, for two minutes each time, and did an arm exercise with bicycle pedals.  It seems that the wound team had just spent quite a while with him, cleaning his incision and readjusting the wound vac.  It turns out he has an infection in the incision.  He was droopy all day, at least partly psychologically.  He reluctantly let me get him up for an hour in the afternoon and we wheeled to the cafeteria for coffee.  He worked on a crossword puzzle for a while. The speech therapist found us there and taught him another exercise to strengthen his swallowing muscles.  At 5, they put in an IV connection to start antibiotics while they wait for a culture to determine exactly what kind of infection it is.  His spirits were much better by then.  So were mine.  Love, Gay