Friday, July 16, 2010 8:05 PM, MDT

So we go into the cardiac unit today, and Bill's room is empty. Apparently he was moved back into the PCU after we left him last night. So that's where we are to stay for a while.

Today was a pretty good day. OT came in this morning and had Bill brush his teeth, comb his hair, and wash his face. Then she had him sitting on the edge of the bed. He held himself up for about 10 minutes. He said it was hard, but he knows its good for him and wants to do more.

The trachea is probably coming out on Monday or Tuesday. Yay! The Drs are thinking about surgically removing the sores on his knees because they are really deep, and it would allow his knees to heal faster.

We were told today that Bill does not have diabetes, as they were worried about that. His blood sugar has been normal for a couple of days. This is really good news. 

Saturday, July 17, 2010 7:29 PM, MDT

A day of ups and downs,
First, dialysis went well, then we figured out the source of some pain, it wasn't a big thing and easily remedied. Then the doctor decided that the trachea could come out today. It was taken out this afternoon and he is doing fine.
 He also had a good PT today.
 He is making some urine and it seems to be increasing daily(keep praying for the kidneys to kick all the way in).
 The down side is that he had a seizure today and that is a little frightening and disconcerning. But the good news is that it is not a continuous one and it seems to have stopped now. Pray for that to not happen again.
Keep up the prayers as this thing is going to be a long recovery.

Sunday, July 18, 2010 6:33 PM, MDT

Today was a good day. It started out with a bath. He has begun to help the nurses when they move him around.

During PT Bill was sitting on the side of the bed and held himself up very well. It was just a few days ago that he could barely hold himself up at all. He also was able to stand up with the help of the PT. It all went very well.

We were finally able to take Bill outside! It is quite a process to get the man-power to transfer him to the wheelchair and unplug all the machines. We were outside for about an hour, and Bill was definitely enjoying the sunshine.

When we got him back into his comfortable air bed, he conked out and slept for a few hours.

Bill did not have another seizure today, although he was a little bit twitchy all day. We believe that those twitches are just his brain calming down from the seizure yesterday, but that is our unprofessional opinion.

Bill is definitely getting stronger every day, and is enjoying having some family around. He has been smiling a lot and we know that his sense of humor has not left him. Keep those prayers coming

It was scary walking into Bill's room and he wasn't there. I knew that if something bad had happened they would have called us, but still it was something of a shock.
Everyday was something new to worry about or to think about. At first I just wanted him to survive, then it was getting off the ventilator and so on. Knowing that he didn't have diabetes was good news. He still had so many things that could go wrong.

It was hard to watch this grown man be so dependent on other people for everything. He could not even roll over on his own. One of the first things he asked for was clothes. I had to go to Goodwill and get him some sweat pants and clothes that were hospital friendly because all he had was camping clothes.

Watching him have another seizure was frightening. At the time the neurologist gave him more anti-seizure drugs. He continued to have seizure like activity, but they weren't seizures. We now believe that the anti-biotics caused both seizures and the twitches.

Taking the trachea out was a very big deal, but the process of removing it was surprisingly simple. The respiratory therapist just pulled it out and handed it to me.

Bill enjoyed his trips outside. I am so thankful that the doctors and staff allowed us to do that. I believe that sitting in the sun is very healing. It was quite a process to take him outside. First we had to get permission then we had to get help to put him in a wheelchair. We had to make sure he was "unplugged" from everything and had a portable oxygen. I feel that it was worth the trouble.

Bill did enjoy visitors and I think that he liked seeing his family.