Here Comes The Sun!

It's a Sunshine Day!

Yesterday was such a whirlwind. Our cousin Megan picked up Kerry and the girls in Kerry's car so they would be able to drive home late yesterday after we got the good news. So many people have offered so many things for us and to us we are so very blessed. Megan has given us rides back and forth to the hospital from her house where we parked our cars. She and Brian offered to take the girls if we needed them to or bring snacks and toys from Charlotte's collection for them to play with.

For the first time since we began our journey the sun was shining brightly in the sky. Today was an extremely long day. The boys left this morning after breakfast. We were under the impression that Dad would not be awake today. We really missed the girls not being here to make us laugh and keep our minds off things.

I went to the gym to run off some stress then Mom and I hopped on the hospital shuttle. Gabby had already been in to see Dad early this morning and texted us to let us know he had a good night and that they woke him up to make sure he could move everything and then put him back under. We just expected him to still be under when we arrived. I went into the room first and Dad opened his eyes and squeezed my hand. Mom came in a few minutes after. He was very happy to see us and the nurse said his pulse rate went up when we came in which is normal. Gabby came in shortly after and stayed with us all day :)

Dad decided that he wanted to write and the nurse we had said he wouldn't be able to write but he doesn't know Dad! So not only did he write and with his left hand and ask us questions but he could nod and shake his head and give us the thumbs up. The doctor came in and he said he had a question for him. The doctor waited while I helped him write and he wrote How Long Until PIZZA? The doctor was cracking up. He said never has he ever had an LVAD patient less than 24 hours after surgery start joking with him and asking for Pizza! He also, which I was hoping he wouldn't, realized that I was not in Disney World. He wrote Disney? on the paper so I had to tell him we decided to postpone the trip and go later. For those of you who didn't know, I had booked a trip to Disney and because surgery was scheduled originally for the end of October we figured we would be all set. He doesn't miss anything, even under sedation!

They say that Dad is ahead of schedule. They tried to cut back on the pain meds too soon today to try and bring him out of sedation. He was really struggling with coughing while the tube was in and had to be suctioned a bunch of times to clear his airway.  It was hard to watch him try and cough and know how uncomfortable he was. The nurse today was not as attentive as we would have liked and I was so relieved when the night nurse came in. The night nurse was AWESOME last night and early this morning when she talked with Gabby. So we felt much better knowing he was in good hands when we came back to the hotel.

They finally decided at 6 that they would leave the vent in for the night and let him rest. He has developed a low grade fever which they say is normal with that much stress on his system and that much stuff in his system. So tomorrow they will try again to wean him off the vent again. I think he will be much more comfortable after that is out. We did not want them to pull out the vent to soon and then have to go back in and re-do it if he needed it. The doctor agreed and did not want to push things.

So tomorrow is a new day and hopefully a step in the right direction. Thank You all again for your thoughts and prayers. We have a long way to go so keep the prayers coming. We still need them :)

Laurie