Sitting Up Today!!!

Dad had a good night last night, aside from dreaming about people who were not in the room! Needless to say he is not loving the pain meds. I said, I would rather be loopy than in pain.

Today held many milestones. First, Dad was able to get the last two chest tubes out so now there are none! Janet was our nurse again today. We love Janet!!! We were lucky because she picked up an overtime shift, so she was able to be with us again.

After their lunch break, PT and Janet were able to get Dad up on the scale made him take a few steps. They were able to get him sitting up in a chair! This was great. The doctors are still impressed and amazed at his progress. They can't believe he is doing as well as he is only 4 full days after major surgery.

Right now the biggest issue seems to be the swelling and bruising around his mouth, tongue and throat from the vent tube. When he tries to swallow a little bit of water, it triggers a coughing fit which plays with his blood pressure and O2 stats. They are putting him on an anti-coughing regimen and sending him down for a video swallow first thing in the morning. Speech and Swallow specialists were not in today due to the holiday. Janet found out one was in on the 8th floor to see a patient. She was able to get in touch with them and bribed them with a candy bar so they came down to see Dad.

I stayed at Megan and Brian's last night and was able to have breakfast with them and Charlotte which was nice. Charlotte and I also played with some cool bristle blocks and had a tea party in her playroom.  She is so cute and I loved being able to spend some time with them today. Megan and Charlotte drove me into the city and dropped me off so I could visit with Dad.

Auntie Janet came to visit today and she was having coffee with Mom when I got there so the nurses could turn Dad and take out some more tubes and meds. Auntie Janet brought me a treat, of the rice crispie variety :) I was very excited.

Boston was bustling this afternoon. For being a holiday we couldn't figure out why. We turned on the news and a few people in the waiting room told us two green line trains had crashed. Well it turned out that it was right at the top of the street so Mom and I took a walk down. It didn't look like very much but from the sky view on the news you could see the derailment and the damage the trains had. A few people were injured but no fatalities or serious injuries thank goodness.

You can see three of the five helicopters in the upper right corner of this photo. They were everywhere!

John came up around 6:30 ish and visited with us for a while. We gave him an LVAD book to bring back to the Fire Station because as it turns out there are a few people in the area who already have LVADs!!! So Dad isn't the first.

Gabby came up to visit. She is so faithful to us! She never ever comes to the hospital without stopping by no matter what day or how busy she is. She always comes in to "say hi to Uncle Mike" and visit with us.

Tomorrow is a new day. Hopefully Dad can get the swallow test out of the way and they can figure out  what is stopping him from swallowing. He is hungry now and very anxious to drink water and ice. Janet was so nice she got a box of popsicles and put Dad's name on them so no one else would eat them so he will have some as soon as he is ready.

Thanks again everyone for all your thoughts, prayers, well wishes, hospitality, meals, rides, company, cards, calls, gifts and for being the best group of family and friends a person could ever have!

Laurie