Yesterday was a simply gorgeous day here in Parry Sound, and today looks like more of the same. It was sunny and warm all day, with a light breeze to keeps things comfortable and help chase the bugs away. The kids all went swimming and we continued our clean up and organization efforts around the camp. Hope Warga, Kiera’s friend from Kineras Bay, brought a bunch of fireworks to share with us and we enjoyed a day-late Canada Day pyrotechnic celebration on our beach last night. Thanks for lighting up the skies, Hope! I am starting to prepare to do water testing later today and plan on collecting samples this afternoon, which will yield results by early tomorrow evening.

Channel Man Stan continues to improve today. Yesterday, the doctors successfully lowered the PEEP setting on his ventilator to 10 and he was able to tolerate the change. His vital signs are all good and his kidneys are working well without assistance from the dialysis machine. Besides a Foley catheter and the tracheal tube, Pop now has only has one IV line in him. This has reduced the number off possible infection sources and will help to keep him from getting another secondary infection. Channel Man still remains in a deep fog. However, his body is busy metabolizing the remnants of the numerous sedatives, pain killers, and various other drugs that he has been infused with over the past 5 weeks, and hopefully he will start becoming more alert soon. The ICU staff also told us that the doctors had discontinued his twice daily infusions of the antifungal itraconazole, as he had completed a 28 day course of treatment and they want to hold off for a while and monitor for changes. Mom will be trying to talk to the infectious disease specialist to get updated with the latest lab results, learn more about the overall treatment strategy, and discuss the rationale behind the discontinuance of itraconazole. We would all prefer that Dad stay on the itraconazole until the lab has more definitive results, but given his stability and recent improvements in his condition, I can’t say this is terribly alarming at this point. However, as Pop would say, “The Chief Wonk will be watching.”

On another medical front, Brenda Lind's knee-cap surgery went well on Friday and she is home resting comfortably, but is frustrated by being "down" at the onset of summer. Hang in there Brenda! Johanna and Brenda and the kids had planned to spend next week at the cottage, but will have to wait a while before making the trip to allow Brenda's knee to mend. We all wish Brenda a speedy recovery.