I just erased a bunch of info about Christmas eve and morning: we ate dinner at the hospital to be near Tom and watched a Christmas Story together. We were glad to see the Whitings for a cheering visit. Then we headed into the hospital early to have Christmas morning together and watch Esther and Ezra open their presents. Several caroling families have graced the time here. The normalcy is a pleasant reprieve...Later that night we watched It's a Wonderful Life. Compared to many of the other patients here, Tom has a lot less to worry about though I doubt we sense his pain level accurately.

On Christmas day the nephrologists came by with the same news about the kidneys as the day before: kidneys working at 60% of normal and the peritoneal cavity still absorbing fluid from the lower pelvis, with a quantity also being drained on the right side. Little was coming from the catheter. They wanted to do another dialysis on Friday because the creatinine number is high. But last evening, more urine was coming out the cath and this has continued through the night and this morning, over a liter. He's restricted to one liter of water to drink in 12 hours along with juices, milk at meal times. No IV. We'll see what they say this morning about dialysis. Ruth Ann