So Far A Much Better Day

Mom and I arrived this morning and were very pleased to see dad looking relaxed.  He slept through most of the night and has had a few naps throughout the day.  Lip reading is a little easier today as he's more alert when he's trying to talk to us.  The neurosurgeon came by today to talk about next steps. Dad's trach SHOULD come out on Saturday and then he needs to stay for another day to be monitored and assessed for swallowing....but this is the long weekend coming up and many of the specialists aren't in the building, so we're not exactly sure if it will happen on this schedule or not.  We brought in dad's wheelchair today and got him up for half an hour.  It was good for him to get a change of position and scenery.  His specialized air bed arrived this afternoon so we are just about to get him back in that bed.  His blood pressure has significantly dropped since getting up so we need to limit the time he's out of bed to short periods for now. 

Mom continues to advocate for dad's care and each new nurse assigned to the case has to get the run down. It's amazing how many times she's had to share his med list since being here....pre-op, recovery, ICU, and now each nurse on the ward.  The pharmacist just left and we THINK we've gotten it all straightened away now.  It's been a struggle because one of dad's meds that he's been on for 17 years can not be stopped and he wasn't getting it....now he is thanks to her. 

We've also had to speak directly to a dietitian because they still haven't been feeding dad.  He got 15cc's per hour for a couple hours last night (whoop de doo) and then we had to get them to turn it off because he can't "eat" lying flat. They don't seem to understand the issue with dad's hips (not being able to sit up on an angle due to pressure on the hips) and thought he could be on continuous feeds throughout the night.  The neurosurgeon stressed on day 1 that he needed nutrition and it's taken mom on their case to finally get this situation addressed.  He will get increased dosages tonight until we leave and then tomorrow they will start a feeding routine a little more comparable to his regular eating schedule.  Progress is being made.

We also had another "reunion" today as dad's first physiotherapist from 1994 stopped by to say hi.  Dad recognized her voice before he even saw her.  She joked that dad might want to punch her instead of visit as dad wasn't the kindest to her back then during those traumatic times!  Physiotherapists always get a bad rap (as they push the patient in order to improve) and anyone that knows my dad knows how uncooperative he could be back then.  Dad was really glad to see her.

Tomorrow they should be reducing the air cuff in his trach and hopefully in a day or two we can cork the trach so he can talk for a while.  This process will be much easier for him (and us) if he could talk.  We are all pretty tired today...I guess the week's adventures have worn us out a little.  If dad's bed were just a little wider I think mom and I would both curl up and nap with him!