The Saturday after his surgery was pretty much a 'surgery recovery day' so there was no change really. Sunday started the walking regim to get his bowels moving and keep him from recurring. Things went well and he was pretty worn out by the time my 'shift' started. We had quiet a fright when he had bloody discharge at 2 am. By 4 am there was enough concern that an Endoscopy was in order, but Dr. Martinez was convincing us to keep very calm. He still was not eating as much as he should and seemed in a little too much pain. But even Dr. Rivera (the actual surgeon) was convinced that the problem should be treatable without surgery.

Echauri didn't have any openings to get him in, but the head of Echauri was at the hospital for a meeting and the head of surgery cornered him to plead the case. He was already aware, and very interested in Marcus' progress so he arranged to have a 'slot' open and we where off. It's a good thing too. We quickly discovered the Marcus had ulcers in his stomach and thining of the soft tissues of the intestinal walls. All very treatable with medicine. And due primarily to a combination of the stress of surgery and his Pancreatitis. And fortunatly the head of surgery already presumed this and upped the stomach medication he was already on.

By Tuesday he was remarkably improved and they started him on a liquid diet. By lunch he was eating solids and moving around quiet easily. He was, and is, very week due to losing almost 30 lbs of mostly muscle. By the afternoon rounds they where ready to release him. I consulted with Dr. Martinez and we both agreed that he should be kept overnight to be sure that his recovery was actually starting. Marcus also had a visitor. The office manager of Echauri's 13 year old son came and sat with Marcus for a while. They had visited before, but this time came bearing a gift. He enjoyed the company of 'other than nurses'. By Wednesday's 9 am rounds everyone, including Marcus, was ready to call it. He was out by noon!

During all of this week our good friends from Sweet Dreams have been eagerly waiting with us, anchored down in Las Hadas. Part of the medical system here is a strict policy around blood. If you use a pint, the family donates a pint +1. Little did Gina and Jim realize they where about to become entwined in this latest Ducky adventure. They volunteered to donate on Tuesday, so they asked us to be in by 6:30 am on Wednesday. Well, Mexican 1/2 hours are measured using the same curve as a Mexican minute. Four hours later we where wittled down to the 2 donators. Then 1 finalist was elimated due to temporary anemia... but allas we arranged other options and by 12:30 all was done. This had to be done to get Marcus out....

And then we where gone!