June 8

Thanks for your supportive comments, everyone. They mean a lot to me and will mean a lot to Steve when he can read them. I talked with Steve's surgeon today and he said that Steve is "inching forward". They're getting more abdominal fluid out and Steve's abdominal pressure hovers around high normal. Steve is able to breath more on his own, since his diaphragm now has more room to expand. The biggest concern now is that Steve is still running a fever, his white blood cell count remains elevated and his platelet count is about twice normal. Steve remains on antibiotics and they've also added an anti-fungal medication. They haven't been able to culture any bacteria out of his blood or fluids.