Sunday, August 28: Day 4 at Home

I have started to write down everything that Kevin eats and drinks, plus every movement considered physical exercise such as going up and down stairs. Both of us are a bit surprised at the lack of progress since he has gotten home. Nothing seems to have gotten easier or better in the last few days. He continues to have difficulty eating. I gave him three different dishes for dinner last night and he couldn't eat any of them. He finally drank a diabetic protein shake we brought home from the hospital.

Part of the problem is Kevin's coughing spells. When he starts coughing it's difficult to stop and he can cough for hours. The amount of air he takes in while coughing makes him heave, and today he threw up for the first time. Not good for someone who is barely eating anything anyway. We don't know what makes him start to cough; many times it's after meals and many times it's in the middle of the night.

We almost went to the ER last night; Kevin said his back was killing him where his left kidney is. I tried to be calm and after a while he said it could just be a sore back so we waited it out. It didn't appear to turn into anything, and I certainly didn't want to take him to the hospital. But anything including the word "kidney" and "hurt" makes us worry.