Today as I got up I wondered if we would have any surprises come up. It seems as if every Monday since this all started there has been some big hurdle. First there was the need to take him off the heart lung machine, then the concern over the bleed on his brain and then last week was the worry over his gut and internal bleeding. When I made my routine morning call I was told he had a good night. That always seems to at least start the day off right. Halfway through the day he was still doing good. So I think we have finally passed through a Monday without something scary happening.
I always feel better about the day when no real difficulties come up for Stan. Today though they tried to move his breathing tube to another position in his mouth to prevent sores forming but finally had to move it back. This is something that they have done at other times without much trouble but today was different. He got so irritated with it and couldn't seem to quit gagging and coughing so they finally had to give him something to help him relax a little. He finally rested a while and was able to finish his dialysis treatment. He has been breathing on his own for a good portion of the day and the doctor said that he should be able to take out the breathing tube by the end of the week. In fact the doctor for the first time said "the week shows some promise". For an intensive care doctor this is about as positive as we are going to get but I'll take it :).
Other than his rough time with the breathing tube he has seemed more aware and less foggy than I have seen him in the last four weeks. He is also getting much stronger and was able to stand for a minute several times today. He really still doesn't like sitting in the chair but he was wanting to go walk. Hard thing for him is that he needs to be able to sit before he will be able to walk. He was more willing to work at it though today and that is good. He even asked for paper and pen to write. He wrote "wash my hair". It was kind of funny; he was wanting out of the chair until he decided to ask to have his hair washed. Then it was worth it to him to sit for twenty more minutes so he could have his hair washed. He likes to be clean. I'm so glad he is finally getting strong enough and more willing to fight his fatigue and get to work rebuilding his strength. He will probably still be here for a while longer but as long as we are moving in the right direction I can't complain.
Overall a pretty good day in the ICU.
Alisha
:D
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