Update

Coming Home, We Hope
It's 12:20 p.m. Saturday, and I've just spoken with Bob. He's waiting to hear from the nurse on whether he can leave hospital today. As he was transferred from the ICU to a regular bed only late last night, such a decision would be joyfully gobsmacking. I will not, however, check the dental records on my new pet pony, should said equine be left on my doorstep.

Oh, excuse me for a moment .....


EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you.

And, in a more medical vein:

• Bob's second endoscopy was performed yesterday afternoon. It confirmed that the clips placed in his stomach (and presumably the injection he received) had stopped the bleeding. This stability, and the slowly increasing hemoglobin counts it allows, are what may also allow Bob to come home.
• However, the endoscopy also showed that the stomach-duodenum passageway was almost completely closed by scar tissue - so closed that there was still plant matter in his stomach, despite his not having eaten for at least three days. The scar tissue is close to blocking the passage way. (The stuff may have been pills, the doctor said, but it looked like plant matter to me in the pictures.)
  
• Normally, the GI doc would do a gastroenterological version of a balloon angioplasty to forcibly expand the passageway. However, the blood vessel that exploded is right. beside. the closure, and he won't risk it until it's very, very, very healed.
  
• So, for the next four weeks (*croggle*) Bob can down only liquids. This should give the area a chance to fully heal. At that point he'll go back into the hospital for the balloon procedure.
  
• The doctor also took a biopsy to check for h. pylori bacteria, which probably should have been done 10 years ago. If the little bastards show up, then we can treat them out of existence. If not, at least it's been checked.
  

I'm hoping Bob can sleep in his own bed tonight, and I'm putting together a new grocery list based on what he'll have to eat for the next month. At this point we have no idea what caused this latest near-disaster, and won't, if the bacteria test comes up negative. But sussing out the reasons will have to take a back seat for now.

Thanks again, all of you, for all your emotional support. That comes from both Bob and me, and is heartfelt.