Dad weathered his first night in the ward well, though he's still not sleeping. Every day his mind seems more and more engaged. He's focused on the next near-term milestones: his first solid food today (what they call a "dry plate" -- no liquids yet), and more steps under the supervision of the physical therapists. They said that I can bring a laptop in for him. I have an old one I can put into service if I can get the wireless card working in it. I brought his reading glasses in. We decided that I will bring in a small cloth bag and we'll sling it over the bed. I can put his glasses and iPod in there, along with some reading material. He had a window in the ICU but not here in the main ward. His nurse Curtis is a wonderful man. Of course Curtis had to see the pictures of the plane, and hear the whole story. Dad has a new team of people to charm. I asked about the possibility of pushing him around in a wheelchair, but Curtis said that the physical therapists would have to ok that. I had prepared some fresh juice for him, but that's not allowed yet.
He and I are in a routine now, making a joint "plan" for each day. He gets his assignments, and I get mine, and we work on them. His job today is to work on solid food and physical therapy, and mine is to get the laptop working for him.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Deborah,
Pass on my best wishes to your father. I got the link to this blog from Russ Clifford this morning and was glad to read that he was progressing.
I don't know your father or Russ, but am a fellow Sonex builder. I can assure you the Sonex building community is very interested in hearing about his improving health and we are all looking forward to his full recovery.
Bob Meyers, Sonex #982
Hi Bob,
Thanks so much for your message! Dad will be pleased that the Sonex community is checking in.
Deborah, Sonex #365
I'm still not sure why PT is the one to OK a wheelchair ride down the hall, or even out of doors. Thats makes no sense at all to me. Help Maryanne?! Any thoughts?
I'm sure that even dry toast will be considered "gourmet" to your Dad after all this time. Liquids will soon follow, I'm sure.
Is he still using the vent at night? I'm really interested to know why he can be without it during the day, but need it at night.
Your Dad didn't sleep well last night. Was he having the night terrors again? Is he afraid to sleep? Does he need a sleeping med? Perhaps a mild sleeping pill is in order. (I give my (2) labs 3Benadryl when there is thunderstorm approaching us. It works nicely!)
Looking forward to your next entry.
Cousin Carole
Yes! Out of ICU. A Big wonderful step!
Dris,I guess the nurses want to make sure he's safe to transfer in and out of wheelchair, and not needing a lot of help doing so, before they let Deb and Dick take off on thier own. I bet that will be very soon.
Deb, Tom and I are looking at our schedule to come down and see Dick soon. I'm so happy he is finally out of ICU. Weird they don't have a window in his room. Do any of the other rooms on the floor have windows. Maybe he could move to one if they do.
It's so encouraging to see him making such good progress. I am assuming that he is talking well with the valve on his trach.
Hope he finally gets some good sleep.
Maryanne
Post a Comment