Tonight at about 8:00pm, Dad will have officially been a patient at University Hospital for five, count them ..... FIVE weeks in a row - without ever having set foot outside the hospital doors for even a breath of fresh air! Just the thought of it makes my heart ache for him. Lung transplants are hard enough knowing that if everything goes as planned you'll be in the hospital for up to two weeks. Five solid weeks in a hospital is a whole different ball game. Six weeks? Six weeks just might send all of us over the edge, stay tuned. ;)
Despite this not-so-happy anniversary tonight, things are actually going well for my Dad considering what he's been through. He's now been out of the ICU and in the same room on the 5th floor for one week, which is a record, and he's doing better each day. He still has the chest tube in to continue suctioning and draining the fluid and air that kept showing up and causing all of the problems. The plan is to seal off the tube today, leave the tube in place for a couple of days and monitor him, then remove the tube, monitor him again for a couple of days, then hopefully send him on his merry way by the end of next week. His nutrition has improved and he actually has had a much better appetite lately, but he's lost a ton of muscle mass - especially in his legs, so he's still got a ways to go before he'll be strong enough to do simple things like get out of bed and walk around on his own. Now that he's feeling a little better, he's also more vocal with the nurses and doctors about how he's feeling, what he needs, and what he thinks should happen next. It's pretty funny to hear HIM telling THEM when he's planning on going for a walk, or that the respiratory team needs to come back later or adjust his oxygen, or to call his doctor to get permission to do something.
Thanks so much to all of you who have come by to visit. Now more than ever, he appreciates visitors to help break up his day and evening - especially if you call ahead of time and see if there's something that he's craving :) His favorites lately have been Hires rootbeer floats, McDonalds cheeseburgers, Pizza Factory pizza (pepperoni and green peppers, an Osborn family fav) cheesy potatoes, lemon meringue, peach or apple pie or carrot cake. His doctors want him eating a high fat, high protein diet so anything that meets those criteria is even better. He's so sick of the hospital food and really appreciates anything homemade as well.
By the way, if anyone knows how to get their hands on some Chuck-o-rama scones and honeybutter then my dad will seriously love you forever. Sadly, Carter was unsuccessful in his attempts to beg the cashier at Chuck-o-rama to let him just buy some scones to take to his dad in the hospital (apparently they don't allow take-out under any circumstances.) This did not please Carter and he may or may not have gone a little postal on the heartless cashier, as the past five weeks of stress even got the best of someone as mellow and easygoing as my little brother. :)
