Saturday Update: Trivia, Friends and MUSC

The Dawg and I have been quite impressed with everyone we've met at MUSC Hospital.

He has appointments on Tuesday with two specialists, one in the morning and one in the afternoon.

We hope that we'll know more as of Tuesday as to treatment and such.

He's gotten out a little more in the last two or so days. We played a bit of trivia, a favorite pasttime of ours. One thing he has learned: I don't let him win just 'cause he's been sick. When he wins (which is too often, I think), it's certainly not that anyone is letting him win.

Last night we dropped by O'Lacy's for a short while so that we could see friends we hadn't seen in a while (Chuck, Richard, Liz, Pat, Danny, Susan, Shanna, Stephanie and more.)

The Dawg still gets tired and experiences shortness of breath with just a few steps. We both hope the heart specialists at MUSC can do something about that. Even with all he's been through, he says he doesn't have any pain; it's just the shortness of breath that keeps him from doing much. If replacing/repairing/treating the heart valve helps that and if the fluid is drained from his lungs, he'll be able to get out and about more.

Day 8 in the Hospital Part 2

When I got to the hospital today, The Dawg was out of his hospital "dress" and in his regular clothes. No sheets on the bed and he was packed up. He was ready to go home. Dr. Bolster told him early this morning that he might be able to go home today, but that it would be up to Dr. Handshoe.


Here he is with Stephanie.

If you look closely in the above picture, you'll see a container of boiled peanuts next to The Dawg. His daughter-in-law, Edie, made them and brought them to him today. She also sent some on Sunday. Here's Edie:


Son, Vic, looks on as Stephanie checks Carroll, probably wiring him up to machine he took off when he got dressed.

Well, he's not going home today. More tests Friday morning; however, Dr. Handshoe has already said Carroll can go home Friday afternoon.

Here is Dr. Handshoe giving him the news:

He'll have fluid drawn off his lungs tomorrow to testing to determine what kind of fluid it is and what's causing it. There will also be biopsies.

Cancer has not been ruled out but Dr. Handshoe said the spot on the upper right lung didn't look like cancer, although, as he mentioned, cancer can look different some times. There's also a possibility of "bird fancier's lung disease." There are probably other possibilities as well. We should know more after tomorrow's tests are read, which probably won't be until Tuesday since Monday is a holiday.

Everybody at Summerville Medical Center has been wonderful, but The Dawg still wants to go home.

Here's another one of the nice people. She's Jenny, and she shares Carroll's last name. She's a Smith.

Thank goodness, the Braves are playing tonight on a channel Carroll can get in the hospital room.