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Arrived back
in ICU at 2:30 AM to see how things were going.
George was pushing the pain med button quite frequently this
morning. He also had a lot of areas that
itched. So I spent the better part of the
early morning helping scratch his back, shoulders, arms and lower legs. Between that and rearranging things for him I
did not get to sit back and relax.
The surgeon
arrived bright and early (6:45) to review things. He mentioned that George would probably spend
one more night in ICU but that there was a chance he would be moved if the
other doctors concurred. He pulled out
the NG tube so that George could try to breathe through his nose. Yes!
One less tube! George did not move on his own much this morning. He is allowed ice chips and clear liquids but
all he is able to take in over the first four hours is about six very small ice
chips.
Lunch
arrived with an array of things like beef broth, tea, jello and lemon
“ice”. Of all that he ate perhaps a total
of one teaspoon of the lemon ice. One
nurse said he should eat as much of that as he could – the other was content
with the little he did eat. I believe
the instructions are that he should take in small amounts at first to see what
he tolerates.
For a short
period this afternoon the nurse turned his bed into a chair and made him sit
up. While painful at first, he actually
found it quite comfortable and he relaxed and napped in that position.
It did not
look as though he would be moved out of ICU today based on the fact that he has
not been able to sit on the edge of the bed or stand on his own. However, when we returned from our daily “ban
from the room” during shift change, we were told that Dr. Tseng (pulmonary
doctor) wrote orders for his transfer down stairs. Meetings were held with the head nurses to
find him a room.
The Physical
Therapist arrived at 4:30. This tiny (5
ft) redheaded gal sweetly told George what the plan was going to be. She found out that our bedroom as on the
second floor and said that is the goal.
But the first goal was to sit on the bed, stand, and turn and sit in a
chair. She started with some small ankle
and leg exercises before helping and showing him how to get out of the bed in a
seated position. Owww, Owww, Owwww! But he did it. He sees the world spinning as he is quite
dizzy. We managed to get him to stand up
for a few minutes, then shuffle left and right and then into the chair. He sat in that chair for two hours. While he did not like it, the vitals monitors
showed great numbers.
Our nurse
says orders were done to move George downstairs, a bed was brought up while our
nurse took his dinner break. During his
break a second nurse arrived to help us out. She then proceeded unhook the
leads from various pieces of equipment.
When Matt,
our nurse, returned from dinner and started calling down to give his report
they noted that the orders stated that Dr. Bastidas had said “one more night in
ICU”. A call to his office went to the
doctor on call. That Dr. looked at the
charts and, since he does not know the background for George so he says we
should do what Bastidas said.
So after two
hours of sitting, we finally get George back into bed, put his CPAP unit on and
he was out for the count. His dinner
arrived but he would have nothing to do with it. After Becke and I ate, we went in to say good
night to George and came home to get an almost full night of sleep. I am already nodding off just typing this up.
While I love
the ICU unit, the nurses are great, it will be nice to be in a room with a bed
of sorts and a place that allows us to eat, plus we will not have to ring a
bell to get into the rooms. That is
probably the best reason of all.
Because George is out for the count, Becke and I went home
early to get another good night os ‘zzzz’s.
Given the fact I can hardly type, I say this is a good time to sign off.
Tomorrow
will be an even better day followed by another better day. We just need to encourage George to stay
awake, and remind him for each step he takes he will be that much closer to
full healing.
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