DAY SIX AT UCLA

Today was kinda slow, this morning Mark got his catheter removed. At noon the pace maker was also removed. So today we ran into two problems; problem one, Mark is allergic to Betadine. This was used to cleanse wounds on his neck and reduce the chance of infection. But what happened is, the neck turned red started burning and after 12 hrs. many, many blisters appeared on his neck. That is why in many of his pictures he has something blue or pink on his neck. The blue thing was a cooling gel and the pink thing absorb the moisture coming off the blisters. Big bummer! Problem two, after the surgery his blood oxygen level is supposed to be 93 or higher. (Before surgery it was low to mid 80's). Mark has had to stay on oxygen, because his level is 93 with the oxygen. And without lower. Mark had his last chest tub pulled out yesterday. So I'm guessing that is the problem with his lungs. Right now (9:30 Sunday night) the nurse still hears something in his left lung. We were hoping to go home Monday, but we may need to wait till Tuesday. All this evening we have been working with Mark trying to get him to take deep breaths, take longer walks, blow his whistle, sit up and talk or cry. We really want him to be ready to go home Monday. If we have to wait then we work with him all day trying to get his lung clear! And oxygen level up! Marky just relaxing
A small look at the neck He got some pretty bad blisters on the back of his neck