Day +273: Spoke too soon!

Turns out we didn't need to spend a night in the pole house after all! Mina had her procedures in the early afternoon, then woke up around 4:00 and went across the street to 7 Long. The procedures went just fine. The EN&T doctor said her ear looks great! What he was seeing was some unusual waxy buildup. He said radiation therapy can cause a reduction in the ability to eliminate wax, and he thinks the puffiness in her face is due to the vein blockage. So he took her off the antibiotics effective immediately. Removal of the catheter was uneventful as well. They still weren't sure after that whether she had a clot, stenosis (narrowing) of the vein, or both.

They put Mina Brigitta in her old room, #739, and she was just really settling in when the vascular surgical team came by. They didn't know anything yet, and talked generally about the types of tests they might do to figure out how to make sure the clot dissolved nicely and didn't move. They were going to talk to the radiologist next. A little while later they came back and said they were 99.8% sure there was no clot, so they were recommending Mina be discharged! So Mina and Keri got to come home from the hospital, much to Mina's disappointment. She was fine after she got home of course, but she didn't really want to leave the hospital. We have to monitor her carefully for signs of a clot (her face getting puffier, veins becoming more prominent), but hopefully the stenosis was caused by irritation from the catheter and will soon resolve itself. After spending yesterday and today getting reacquainted with what it's like to be worried about an immediate risk, it's nice to get back to "normal" tonight.