Unexpected Good News!!!

I went back to the hospital tonight, thinking that I would probably get into the routine of going there twice a day, even if it's just to talk to him for 15 minutes each time. When I walked in, the nurse came rushing over to me with a big smile on her face, and said that they had performed the tracheotomy this morning, just after Ricky and I left. This is huge, good news! Until they got that tube out of his throat, we were just going to be in a holding pattern. Now it's out! He looked *much* more comfortable, almost as if there were a gentle smile on his face. Nurse Judy said that he's been semi-conscious. I didn't see that -- he was out while I was there, but I don't care. They offered to wake him up, but to do that they have to shake him and yell at him, and I'd rather he lie there quietly while I speak to him. It's been raining heavily this afternoon, and I like that: this is winter, a time when things lie still. It's a necessary phase of regeneration, and I'm happy for Dad to lie there sleeping because I think that's what he needs. I keep telling him he doesn't need to wake up, just listen.

They told me this morning that they might not do the tracheotomy until next Wednesday, and I was concerned about that and wondering if it was time for me to be more aggressive, to try to force the issue and get them to do it earlier. Intubation is so horribly uncomfortable, it's almost worse than the injury to his neck. So it's a big load off my mind that the tube is out, and that we are truly on the other side of the acute crisis. I hope it pours tonight, and that Dad sleeps through it. I feel much calmer now.

Like so many other people, Nurse Judy seems charmed by the notion of Dad building and flying his airplane, and I think she's taking good care of him.