Monday Already???

 We had a tough night last night.

They tried a new opioid to help

with pain and he didn't react well....

Woke from a sound sleep and

didn't know who I was, or where

we were. He thought we were 

on a boat. (?)

Once I convinced him we were 

in a hospital, he wondered if it

was a boat hospital.

He didn't know why he was here.

He just knew he was in a lot of pain.

He has a very high pain threshold,

says his pain level is 1 or 2.

Even after having surgery hours earlier.

But he was like a little child,

trying to rock and moaning and

just not himself.

We finally put a lidocaine patch

on the site of the chest tube to

numb it and thankfully that helped.

He went back to sleep and woke 2

hours later for his usual check and was fine.

Whew!

That was intense!

He has no memory of it.

Today was full of progression steps!

We got permission to remove the

surgical drain from his back, which I'm

sure increased his comfort level.

(Also took out his catheter ... another 

huge milestone!)

Next PT and OT showed up to fit him

for a brace. I was imagining a big white

plastic turtle shell looking thing.

Nope.

Looks like a bullet proof vest

a police office might wear.

Not super comfy, but he looks cool.

They got him up in his walker for a minute.

His BP dipped, but not as drastically as

yesterday. He was able to take a few steps

and then they got him situated in a

recliner to eat his lunch!

It felt good to sit up!

But totally wore him out.

He's been napping off and on

since then.

He's running a slight fever now,

no sign of infection or pneumonia though.

So we are just keeping an eye on it.

I'll update again later when there is

something to tell.

Oh, yeah, we spoke to the trauma 

surgeon and it's a definite no go on

the rib surgery. Also there's a chip

out of his RIGHT hip???

Who knows.

Anyhow, they aren't doing anything

about that either.