Update on Eric

Eric's younger brother, AJ, is sending periodic e-mails. This is from last week. You gotta love AJ!
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Eric is doing really well. He's been off the vent for three days,
breathing on his own with no problems. He is eating real food, which
is very important to keep Mr. Eric happy. His spirits continue to be
good.

He is slowly coming to grips with how serious this all was. Doctors
keep coming into his room and saying, "Oh my God, your face looks SO
much better!" And, "Wow, I can't believe you're sitting up!" Eric
(thankfully) doesn't remember much about the first three weeks in the
hospital, so this is all very strange to him.

"Why do people keep telling me my face looks good?" he asked. "What
did my face look like?"

As gently as we could, we told him: "It was black, dude."

His kidneys continue to improve, but aren't yet functioning properly.
The docs are still confident they will be back online and fully
functional in time. Dialysis continues.

He has started physical therapy and is doing a lot of exercises in
bed. Not only does he have to regain strength and dexterity in his
left hand, he has to learn how to be left-handed. How fun is that?

The skin on his arms and legs has healed remarkably fast. He's still
bandaged, but not nearly to the extent he was a week ago. There's a
possibility of some skin graphs on his legs, but we don't know yet.

We are still waiting to learn the fate of his right fingers and toes.
One podiatrist came in a few days ago and said they were going to
amputate all his toes. The next day, another podiatrist (and the boss
of the first podiatrist) came in and said, no, we're going to wait,
some of his toes may come back. It's a bit of a roller coaster because
at least a half dozen doctors see him every day, and they all have
slightly different opinions on what's happening. Mostly, it's just
wait and see.

They are talking about kicking him out of Intensive Care. He could
either go to a step-down unit at Yale, or possibly a rehab facility
closer to his house. A lot of it depends on how soon they can get him
off dialysis, and if he can stay off the vent. I'll obviously let you
know if he's moved to a new room with a phone.

Finally learned the name of exactly what Eric has as a result of the
bacterial infection: disseminated intravascular coagulation (or DIC.
I've been telling him for years he's a DIC). If you're interested, you
can read all about this lovely disease on WebMD. Here's the link:
http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/Disseminated-Intravascular-Coagulation-DIC-Topic-Overview

So it's all pretty much good news. There are going to be a lot of
little procedures and a lot of physical therapy between now and
getting the boy home, but he continues to move in the right direction.