Well, I am still an inpatient, despite feeling good again because they want to run the full course of IV antibiotics which lasts for 7 days. It seems like I have another two nights in hospital. I have to have the IV drip every 6 hours and between them I can leave the hospital if I like, but that means I really need to spend nights there, which is not fun - it is impossible to get a good sleep. The other man in my room is 83 years old and just had major surgery yesterday, so they were waking him up all night long to check on him and get him to cough and breathe heavily and so on. He seems to be doing very well. So that was going on all night, and I have my own routine that got me up at midnight for a drip and half an hour later (to have the IV removed), and then again at 4am for blood work, and then again at 6am for another IV drip... yawn. I could use a nap now. I found out that the reason they do the blood work at 4am is simply because that is when the requisitions come up from the lab. They could be waiting till 6am - so tonight I'll ask them to hold off.
As for my plumbing, it is unsure whether or not it would be possible to do an ERCP procedure for the stent change on my right side, which would be a prerequisite for removing the external drain. That way they could come in again with an ERCP for future changes. I am keen to remove the external drain. Imagine the luxury of actually being able to take a relaxing shower without having saran wrap hiding my dressing and worrying about soaking it, or, if I could be so bold to whisper this dream, imagine the luxury of a bath! Although maybe it is fitting that my last bath was actually in Japan. Anyway, if I got another stent blockage and I didn't have the external access to be able to drain into a bag, it would be not good. Any full internalization of the bile plumbing would have to be done with a larger stent to reduce the chance of a blockage.
The only other thing to mention is that for some light reading I have started into The Cancer Ward by Solzhenitsyn. It is the third Solzhenitsyn book I've read - I recommend him.
