Good improvement and good ham (eventually)

Not a lot of news from the past two days.  Adela’s condition is still gradually improving.  We’re seeing much more of her normal, happy mood during the day.  She does get tired easily and hasn’t been out of bed much, but we are sitting up and eating some ham.

The doctors are still investigating the cause of her inflammation.  They’re starting to look much more at how her unique genetics are affecting everything.  They’ve even asked to run some genetic tests on Ali and I to see if that can help shed some light on how Adela’s genetic makeup came into existence.

The doctors are all still quite amused at the “ham therapy” and considering how much it makes Adela happy (and the fact that it isn’t doing any harm), we’re all for it.  We did have an incident yesterday that was almost a catastrophe.  We have had problems off and on since we arrived with the food services team bringing up trays for Adela that are free of her allergens.  The few times before yesterday, the mistakes were straightforward (and almost comical) — us ordering a grilled chicken breast and them sending a grilled cheese sandwich, salads with cheese on them, etc.  Yesterday at lunchtime, Adela was anxiously awaiting the arrival of the “squeaky ham truck” (the cart they bring the meal trays on has a little squeak).  When the tray was delivered, on top of the ham was a large pile of waffle fries.  Granted, potatoes aren’t inherently dangerous, however when Ali asked in what kind of oil they were cooked, the response was “peanut”.  Now, last I checked, we have told every single person in this hospital that Adela has food allergies.  On her meal ticket, it lists the allergies correctly, including peanuts.  So why did they think that fries cooked in peanut oil would be OK.  Of all the allergies to not play around with, peanuts are at the top of the list.  So, Ali sent the tray back and made it clear that Adela needed a slice of ham that wasn’t underneath a pile of peanut oil.  Granted, this sent Adela into a fit wanting to know why the ham she just saw had to go back.  So, they waited fifteen minutes until another tray came up with her ham…and a pile of peanut oil-cooked waffle fries on top!  I believe Ali wanted to express a few choice words to everyone involved, however she tactfully managed to get another plate sent with just ham after talking to several people.  So, after another fifteen minute wait, the plain ham arrived.  Third time’s the charm.  The only good thing is that we now have one of the food service manager’s cell phone number and were told to call her directly if anything else like this happened.