Dad went home from hospital on Wed and promptly went back in on Friday. Like I said, one step forward, two steps back.

When he went in, his legs were swollen and according to my mom, his hypo count was so low, he was on the verge of a diabetic coma. When she brought him in, he was already slurring and his pupils fixed and staring. Since then the docs have put him back on antibiotics and a pee catheter to see how much he's passing out - which was not much until they gave him lasiks. He also had a blood transfusion on Sunday but his blood count remains low. He's also not eating much so we rejoice if he could even finish half to two-thirds of his food.

All signs point to the pancreas not working well, not healing as it should. With the second ultrasound already showing signs of necrosis, the slow deterioration is not a good sign.

I feel as if dad is just slowly fading. Oh sure, I should be optimistic, and I should have hope. Its not that I don't. But I also want to be realistic. I think they are busy just putting out fires as and when these appear and I wonder how long it would be sustainable and if this would be sustainable at home too - does not seem to be since he had to be re-admitted within days of discharge.

Its a long hard slog for anyone who comes down with pancreatitis. But given dad's age and other medical issues, its a harder slog for him and I don't think he would be ever as well as he used to be before this incident - if at all he makes it out of this one.